Summary

Leguminous trees are a potential source of relatively high quality fodder readily available to many smallholders. However, farmers are often unaware of appropriate feeding strategies for combining tree fodders with poorer quality feeds to improve animal production. Researchers in the field are also hampered by a lack of techniques to assess the nutritive value of fodders to support research programmes aimed at developing appropriate feeding strategies.

Legume forages containing protein which cannot be degraded in the rumen are able to supply ruminant livestock with amino acids at the small intestine. Increasing the dietary level of such forages increases total nutrient intake and improves overall animal productivity. Factors such as yield, tolerance of soil type and cutting influence the choice of legume by the smallholder.

Documents

	Forage Tree Legumes as Protein Supplements for Ruminants
	The effect of supplementing ammonia-treated straw with sugar-beet pulp or barley on rumen kinetics and microbial protein production.

Wilting and short period of adoption appeared to overcome any palatability problems with Gliricidia forage. Gliricidia forage, but not Leucaena, depressed intake of Napier grass due to unknown factors. Legume forages contained soluble nitrogen and some moderate amounts of undegradable nitrogen, and the rumen undegradable portion of the legume is likely to have supplied amino acids at the small intestine.

Incremental levels of the legume forages increased the total nutrients intake and improved the overall animal productivity. Proportionally 0.13 - 0.30 of legume is proposed as the biological optimal level of inclusion. depending on the quality of the basal diet. factors related to agronomical features, such as establishment, yield, tolerance of different soil type and cutting will also determine the choice of the forage legume to be used by the smallholder.

Tree legumes can improve animal productivity and hence the sustainable livelihoods of resource-poor livestock keepers in developing countries by providing a cheap and readily available source of high quality protein forage for livestock, particularly in the dry season.