Animal Nutrition and Feed Technology

The in sacco rumen disappearance of dry matter (DM) and crude protein (CP) of silverleaf (Desmodium uncinatum), velvetbean (Mucuna pruriens) and cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp) legume forages were evaluated. Two cows fitted with 10 cm diameter rumen cannulae on a complete dairy feed ration were used. The forages were shade dried and milled through a 2mm sieve and incubated using the nylon bag technique for 0, 2, 4, 8, 18, 24, 48, 72 and 96 hour periods. Cowpea forage had the highest disappearance values of DM and CP (P<0.05) from 3 to 72 hours followed by velvetbean. Forage of cowpea had the highest (a) and (b) values on DM disappearance and were statistically significant (P<0.05). Velvetbean had the highest values of (a) and (b) on CP disappearance and were not significantly different from cowpea. Similar results were observed on effective degradability where cowpea had the highest values at the outflow rates P=0.02, 0.04 and 0.06 on DM disappearance and they were statistically significant (P<0.05). The disappearance profiles of these forage legumes indicated that they are highly degradable in the rumen and can be used as alternative protein supplements by smallholder farmers.