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Seasonal variation in chemical composition and in-vitro gas production of woody plant species of semi-arid condition of Namibia
Woody plants are essential in ruminant nutrition in semi-arid regions particularly during the long dry season, however, their nutritional value varies considerably among species, seasons and geographical zones. A study was conducted to evaluate the seasonal variation in chemical composition and in-v...
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Published in: | Agroforestry systems 2021-08, Vol.95 (6), p.1191-1204 |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Subjects: | |
Citations: | Items that this one cites Items that cite this one |
Online Access: | Get full text |
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Summary: | Woody plants are essential in ruminant nutrition in semi-arid regions particularly during the long dry season, however, their nutritional value varies considerably among species, seasons and geographical zones. A study was conducted to evaluate the seasonal variation in chemical composition and in-vitro gas production of woody plant leaves and their relationship. Leaves from sixteen (16) major plant species utilized by livestock were collected from six constituencies of Namibia in the wet season (January: summer), early-dry (May: winter) and late-dry (September: spring) season. There were significant influences of seasonal variations on dry matter (DM), ash, neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and soluble tannin (ST) concentrations of the plant species (
p
0.05).
Rhigozum trichotomum
(900 ± 13.9 g/kg),
Vachellia hereroensis
(902 ± 13.8 g/kg) and
Baphia massaiensis
(910 ± 13.2 g/kg) had lower DM content during the late-dry season as compared to wet and early-dry season. The NDF content was highest in
Grewia bicolor
(610 ± 48.1 g/kg DM) in the wet season and lowest in
Vachellia mellifera
(232.0 ± 41.5 g/kg DM) in the early-dry season. Seasonal variation influenced the rate of degradation but not the potential gas production, however, the species were not significantly influenced by seasonal variation for the parameters measured. Species with higher gas potential showed lower rates of degradation (r = − 0.71,
p
0.1) to the in-vitro gas production parameters, a positive correlation existed between ST and degradation rate (r = 0.52;
p
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ISSN: | 0167-4366 1572-9680 |
DOI: | 10.1007/s10457-021-00643-5 |