Nutritive evaluation of Prosopis Juliflora fruits and leaves from Kenya: Chemical composition and in vitro gas production

Abstract

Tree legume forages plays an important role in livestock nutrition in many parts of the tropics. One of the commonly used tree species is leucaena. However, the recent infestation of Leucaena leucocephala by the pest Heteropsylla cubana calls for alternative sources of legume forages. Abdulrazak et al. (1997) for instance, showed that Gliricidia sepium could be an alternative, and indicated the need to identify more promising species. Prosopis Juliflora (prosopis) grows in many parts of the tropics, including the arid and semi arid areas of Kenya. The objective of this study is to evaluate the nutritional value of prosopis fruits (pods with seeds) and leaves as ruminant feed.