Identification and characterization of browse plants in Kumasi district, Ashanti region of Ghana

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Date
1994-09-25
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Inadequate nutrition is one of the most serious constraints to livestock production in the Sub-Saharan African Region. The importance of browse plants in overcoming feed shortage has long been recognised but not much has been done in evaluating their nutritional values. This study which was carried out in two phases, first aimed at identifying the various browse species used as fodder by livestock farmers in the Kumasi District of Ghana. This was followed by the nutritional analyses of the identified species. A 2-stage stratified sampling technique was adopted to delineate the district into nine zones. This was followed by random selection of two towns in each of the nine zones. Five (5) farmers were each interviewed with the help of questionnaires in each of the selected towns on browse utilization. Data was also collected on animal types, farming systems and feeding management over a 5-month period. The second phase entailed chemical analyses of the identified species in terms of crude protein, ether extract, detergent fibres and in vitro digestibility. Results of the survey showed that browse is utilized as a supplementary feed to a basal feed of dried peels of cassava and plantain. Fourteen (14) browse plants were identified as being commonly used. The most highly preferred species is Ficus exasperata with a preference index of Ficus umbellata (33.8%), Griffonia simplicifolia (30.0%), Baphia nitida (27.8%), Ficus leprieuri (27.8%) and Spondias mombin (25.6%) were also preferred but to lesser degrees. A1bizia zygia had the highest crude protein (CP) content of 32.0% but with a very low in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) of 19.4%. Aichornea cordifolia with the lowest CP content of 13.4% had an appreciable IVDMD value of 41.4%. There was a weak positive correlation between crude protein content of the species and their digestibilities probably due to some anti-nutritive substances. Similarly, there were negative correlation between the detergent fibres and their digestibilities. Generally, the high levels of the detergent fibres (Neutral Detergent Fibre (NDF), Acid Detergent Fibre (ADF) and Lignin) negatively affected the rate of digestion. In ranking the browse plants as fodder, two factors were considered. These include farmer’s preference indices and chemical composition. Ficus exasperata was rated first as the most promising browse plant in the study area. The least ranked species were Albizia zygia and Thalia geniculata.
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A thesis submitted to the Board of Postgraduate Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of the Degree of Master of Science in Agroforestry, 1994
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