Effect of Moringa oleifera on performance and nitrogen utilization of growing goats
 

Luu Huu Manh, Lam Kim Yen^*, Bach Tuan Kiet^**, Nguyen Nhut Xuan Dung and Tran Phung Ngoi^***

 

Department of Veterinary Medicine, Agricultural College, Cantho University

lhmanh@ctu.edu.vn

^* College of Economics and Technology, Dong Thap province

^**Department of Veterinary Medicine, Dong Thap Province

^***Song Hau farm

Abstract

Sixteen growing goats weighing 12 ± 1 kg, in a randomized complete block design were used to evaluate four combinations of foliages: M0,  0:25:75: M25, 25:50:25; M50, 50:25:25; and M75, 75:0:25 of Moringa oleifera: Leucaena leucocephala: Briachiaria mutica (para grass), respectively. The study lasted for 75 days, comprising 60 days of growth study and 5 days digestion trial.

DM feed intake and apparent DM digestibility decreased with a curvilinear trend while apparent crude protein digestibility showed a linear increase with increasing proportions of Moringa in the diet. Moringa foliage supported good growth rates in (77 g/day) when fed at 50% of the dietary DM and accompanied by Leucaena foliage at 25% of the diet, the rest being Para grass. With 75% Moringa in the absence of Leucaena, growth rates were reduced to 46 g/day.

It is hypothesized that the constraint to the use of Moringa in ruminants is the rapid rumen degradability of the protein. This makes it a good supplement for low quality forages deficient in rumen nutrients. When fed at high levels as the basis of the diet it probably should be accompanied with a source of “bypass” protein.

Key words:  Bypass protein, fodder trees, intake, leucaena. medicinal traits, para grass, protein solubility     

Introduction

Moringa oleifera Lam is a member of Moringaceae family and a multipurpose tree because of its use in industry and medicine. The leaves of Moringa are rich in protein and have been introduced as feed for animals such as goats (Aregheore 2002; Sarwatt et al 2002; Luu Huu Manh et al 2005), for fish (Richter et al 2003) and for cattle (Sarwatt et al  2004).

Leucaena leucocepha has been known as a favorite source of leaves for goats due to its palatability, and rich protein content (Gohl 1994). It has a great potential in animal nutrition according to Jones (1979), Devendra (1983, 1984), Gutteridge and Shelton (1994) and Nguyen Thi Hong Nhan (1998).

Information on the nutritive value of Moringa for goats is scarce. The present study was conducted therefore to compare the effect of Moringa in combination with leucaena and para grass on performance, digestibility and nitrogen utilization of growing goats.

Materials and method

Location

The study was conducted in Soha farm, Cantho city.

Experimental design

Sixteen local growing goats averaging 12 kg were dewormed, housed in individual pens and allocated to four treatments with 3 replicates according to a randomized complete block design.

The dietary treatments were:

(M0)   0% Moringa + % 75 leucaena + 25% para grass

(M25) 25% Moringa + % 50 leucaena + 25% para grass

(M50) 50% Moringa + 25% leucena + 25% para grass

(M75) 75% Moringa + 0 % leucaena  + 25% para grass

Feeds, diets and management

Moringa, leucaena and para grass (Brachiaria mutica) were planted in Song Hau farm. The leaves and soft twigs of Moringa and Leucaena were harvested daily in the afternoon then wilted overnight before feeding the next day. Moringa and leucaena were chopped into pieces of 8-10cm.  The feeding level was 3% of body weight (DM basis) and adjusted weekly. The goats had free access to water all the time.

The experiment lasted 75 days consisting of 70 days of growth study and 5 days of digestibility and nitrogen balance trial. Records of feed intake, faeces and urine voided were taken and representative samples kept in a deep freezer prior to chemical analysis.

Chemical analysis of feed, faeces and urine samples

Samples of feeds, refusals and faeces were analysed for DM, ash, ether extract, crude protein according to standard methods described by AOAC (1984). Neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent fibre (ADF) and in vitro organic matter digestibility (IVOMD) were determined according to Goering and van Soest (1970). Metabolisable energy (ME, MJ/kg) was calculated according to MAFF (1975).

Statistical analysis

Data were subjected to analyses of variance (ANOVA) using the General Linear Model (GLM) option in Minitab 13.2. The Tukey test in the same software was used to detect significant differences among treatment means. The model was:
 

Yij = μ + αi + βj + eij,

where μ is the overall mean, αi the ith treatment effect, βj the jth block effect and eij is the

random error associated with Yij.

Results and discussion

Composition of feeds and experimental diets

Protein content of the diets M0, M1, M2 and M3 were similar as leaves of Leucaena and Moringa had almost the same protein content (Tables 1 and 2). 

The quality of the para grass used in this study was good with protein content of 11%, low NDF and ADF and high IVOMD.  The crude protein content of Moringa planted in the Mekong delta was similar to that reported for Nicaragua (Sánchez et al 2005; Makkar and Becker 1996; Richter et al 2003), but higher than reported by Aregheore (2002) (19% crude protein in DM). According to Fujihara et al (2005) Moringa leaf protein content is 26.5 %.  In the present study NDF and ADF were higher than reported by Aregheore (2002) and Richter (2003) (18% and 15.9%, respectively). According to Sánchez et al (2005), NDF and ADF contents of Moringa were 50.6 and 37.6 %, respectively. IVOMD of Moringa was higher than reported by Fujihara et al (2005).

The protein level in the diets exceeded that recommended by NRC (1984); however, this may be an advantage when excreta are returned to the soil as fertilizer.

Feed intake

DM intake showed a curvilinear relationship with the proportion of Moringa in the diet (Table 3 and Figure 1). Intakes were maintained with 25% of Moringa but at higher levels there was a linear decline in intake. As the protein content was almost the same in Moringa and the  Leucaena that it replaced, it was to be expected that intake of crude protein would show the same pattern as intake of DM (Figure 2).

Growth rate

The effect of treatments on growth rate was presented in Table 4. There was a significant difference among the treatments in daily gain (P=0.01), the highest gain (87g/day) in goats fed on M25 and the lowest in goats fed on treatment M75 (26 g/day).

Growth rates followed a curvilinear decline according to the proportion of Moringa in the diet (Table 4 and Figure 3) and were linearly related to the intakes of DM and of crude protein (Figures 4 and 5).

Apparent  digestibility and nitrogen balance

Coefficients of apparent digestibility of DM showed a curvilinear relationship with the proportion of Moringa in the diet (Table 5 and Figure 6) with an increase to a maximum point with 50% replacement of Leucaena by Moringa and then a decline as the Moringa level was raised to 75%.  In contrast, the apparent digestibility of crude protein was linearly and positively related with the level of Moringa in the diet (Figure 7).

Nitrogen retention, when expressed as g/day, as % of N intake and as % of N digested, did not differ among the different combinations of Moringa amd Leucaena (Table 5)

Discussion

The decreasing DM intake as Leucaena was replaced by Moringa, and the close relationship between DM intake and live weight gain, indicates that the constraints to feeding Moringa are linked to effects on voluntary intake. The higher apparent digestibility of the crude protein in Moringa compared with Leucaena indicates the protein is rapidly degraded in the rumen. This is confirmed by the report of Ndemanisho et al (2007), which emphasized the rapid rate of rumen degradation of the crude protein in Moringa compared with Leucaena. Using the in sacco method it was found that the washing loss [a] was 731 and 461 g/kg DM and the rate constant [c] was 0.29 and 0.06 per hour for Moringa and Leucaena, respectively. In this respect, the Moringa foliage appears to be similar to the foliage of Tithonia diversifolia, which also has a high crude protein content that is highly digestible (Pathoummalangsy Khamparn and Preston 2008) and is rapidly degraded in the rumen (Mahecha and Rosales 2005). Given as the sole feed, growth rates were low and were increased markedly when supplemented with mulberry foliage (Pathoummalangsy Khamparn and Preston 2008). In the present study, the combination of Leucaena foliage (25%) together with the Moringa (50%) increased growth rate by 60%.

It would therefore appear that the constraint to the use of Moringa is the rapid rumen degradability of the protein. This makes it a good candidate for supplementing low quality forages deficient in rumen fermentable nitrogen. Support for this hypothesis can be found in the research reported by Aregheore (2002). He compared levels of 0 to 80% of Moringa foliage replacing a low quality grass and reported increasing weight gains up to the 60% substitution level but at the 80% level growth rate was reduced. The corollary to this hypothesis is that Moringa is deficient in “bypass” (escape) protein and if fed in high quantities needs to be supplemengted with a protein source rich in rumen bypass characteristics. Leucaena has been shown to be an effectivesource of bypass protein in diets of molasses/urea (Hulman et al 1977), hence the posive results from including it along with Moringa in the present study.

Conclusions

• Moringa foliage supported good growth rates in goats (77 g/day) when fed at 50% of the dietary DM and accompanied by Leucaena foliage at 25% of the diet, the rest being Para grass. With 75% Moringa in the absence of Leucaena, growth rates were reduced to 46 g/day.

• It is hypothesized that the constraint to the use of Moringa in ruminants is the rapid rumen degradability of the protein. This makes it a good supplement for low quality forages deficient in rumen nutrients. When fed at high levels as the basis of the diet it probably should be accompanied with a source of “bypass” protein.

.

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