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Proximate and Anti-Nutritional Constituents of Forage Legumes at Different Stages of Growth
Abstract
Five non-conventional forage legumes used as alternative plant protein sources in livestock nutrition in Nigeria were assayed for proximate and anti-nutritional compositions. The forages, Cajanus cajan, Vigna radiata, Mucuna ghana, Mucuna conchinchinensis and Mucuna rajada were harvested at emergence, 4 and 8 weeks of growth and subjected to chemical evaluation. The proximate compositions and the anti-nutritional constituents were quantified per stage of growth and data obtained subjected to analysis of variance. Results showed that CF, EE and ash values of each forage legume significantly increased (P< 0.05) with age while CP, NFE and moisture values were highest at the emergent stage. Cajanus cajan had the highest CF (13.53%) and EE (2.04%) values at 8 weeks while highest CP (16.80%), NFE (85.04%) and DM (19.7%) at the emergent stage were recorded for V. radiata, M. conchinchinensis and C. cajan, respectively. Highest CP (12.60%) was also obtained for M. rajada at the 4th week; and also for M. Ghana and M. rajada (13.30%) at the 8th week of growth. The anti-nutritional profile increased with age and differed significantly (P<0.05) among forages per growth stage; the highest concentrations of oxalate (0.73%) and HCN (15.39%) at 8 weeks were from M. conchinchinensis. Similarly peak concentrations of phytate (0.44%) and tannin (0.44%) were obtained from M. ghana and saponin, (1.42%) from C. cajan, at 8 weeks of growth. Mucuna ghana had the highest concentration of all the anti-nutritional factors at the emergent stage, except for saponin. These forage legumes hold good nutritional promise for ruminant production in Nigeria and can be used as supplemental browse during lean period of dry season (November-February), especially at their 8th week of growth when their dry matter content is appreciable and the forages contain tolerable levels of anti-nutritional properties.
Key words: Forage legume, proximate composition, emergent, phytate, oxalate, tannin, saponin
