Nutritive value of leaf meals from fodder trees and shrubs as affected by drying methods

The authors determined the effect of three drying methods (sun-drying, air-drying under a roof, and oven drying) on feed composition and digestibility of leaf meals in the project "Performance evaluation of dairy goats fed protein-rich fodder." Leaves and browsable twigs of rensonii (Desmodium rensonii), flemingia (Flemingia macrophylla), Kakawate (Gliricidia sepium), ipil-ipil (Leuceana leucocephala), malunggay (Moringa oliefera), acacia (Samanea saman), and stylo (Stylosanthes guianensis CIAT 184) were used. The project aimed to determine the most suitable drying method for smallholder farms to enhance utilization of fodder trees/shrubs as ruminant feeds. Findings showed that malunggay leaf meal ranked highest in CP content (28.80%), followed by leaf meals from ipil-ipil (24.22%), rensonii (23.60%), acacia (22.62%), flemingia (21.85%), kakawate (21.36%), and stylo (16.80%). CP contents of the leaf meals were not significantly affected by the drying methods, but oven and air-drying under a roof increased the cell wall contents significantly; thereby decreasing their IVDMD and in vitro organic matter digestibility (IVOMD). IVDMD and IVOMD values ranged from 32.38 to 67.62% and 24.93 to 60.15%, respectively. Rensonii leaf meal had the highest nitrogen (N) solubility value (41.27%), followed by leaf meals from stylo (36.69%), malunggay (26.29%), ipil-ipil (20.05%), kakawate (16.74%), acacia (14.89%), and flemingia (12.24%). Oven drying effectively increased the N solubility of the leaf meals from 23.27% (sun-drying) and 23.81% (air-drying) to 24.99%