PJB-2024-387
Proximate and Nutrients Assessment of Eight Forage Plant Species for Their Potential use as Fodder
Sidiq Ullah
Abstract
Forage plants serve as the primary food source for most of the herbivorous animals. The current study was carried out to find out the proximate and nutrients composition of eight selected forage plant species at pre-reproductive, reproductive and post-reproductive phenological stages. Plant specimens are collected, shade dried and grinded into powder form. The analysis was then made using standard techniques. Elemental analyses were performed in Atomic Absorption Spectrometer. Statistical analyses were performed in R software version 4.0.3. The study revealed from the proximate analyses that the highest concentration of carbohydrates (52.775%) was present in Plantago lanceolata, fibers (22.855%) in Cymbopogon jwarancusa, moisture (10.6%) and Ash (32.075%) in Verbesina encelioides, proteins (21.015%), and fats (6.65 %) in Alianthus altissima, and energy (298.85 %) in Acacia nilotica. The highest concentrations of the macro-nutrients N (192 µg/g), and K (794 µg/g), were found in Verbesina encelioides, P (15.43 µg/g), Ca (6.33 µg/g) and Mn (4.11 µg/g) in Alianthus altissima, Mg (22.91µg/g) in Erioscirpus comosus in post-reproduvctive stages. Among the micro-nutrients highest concentrations of Fe (27.59 µg/g), Zn (3.2 µg/g), Mn (4.11 µg/g) and Cd (0.23 µg/g) were found in Dichanthium annulatum, Alianthus altissima and Erioscirpus comosus in their pre-reproductive and post-reproductive stages. Furthermore, P has a significant positive correlation with Na (0.39), Ca (0.32), and potassium (0.18) while negative correlation with calcium (-0.11). Similarly, there is a significant positive correlation of Zn with Fe (0.65) and a significant negative correlation of Cd with Zn (-0.58) and Mg with Ca (-0.38). From the current study it is concluded that the poor productivity of livestock is partially due to the less available amount and poor quality of forage in the study area. It is recommended for the government bodies to improve the habitat and livestock breeds through the plantation/propagation of proximate and nutrients rich forage plants in the study area.
Key words; proximate analyses, elemental analyses, phenological stages, forage plants and livestock
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