Nutrient composition and in situ degradability of forest foliages consumed by mithun (Bos frontalis)

The present investigation was carried out to determine the nutrient composition, macro and micro mineral content and nutritive values of foliages consumed by mithun. Crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE), acid detergent fibre (ADF), neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and ash content of foliages were found to be very between 11.8 to 26.4, 1.91 to 2.81, 19.4 to 28.0, 25 to 38 and 5.1 to 8.9 percent, respectively. The foliages contained 1.62 to 3.32, 0.22 to 0.84 percent of Ca and Mg respectively, but Na content of all the selected foliages was low (less than 0.015%). Phosphorous was mostly within the range of 0.22 to 0.47 percent. Trace minerals, like Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn contents were found to be 6.3 to 19.2, 132.2 to 594.7, 36.6 to 206 and 51.3 to 424.5 mg/kg, respectively, on DM basis. The mean value of the effective degradability of DM and CP calculated from the rumen out flow rates (5% h⁻¹, as average) were 29.9 to 38.7 and 35.3 to 40.2 percent respectively. Degradation of DM (r = −0.50) and CP (r = −0.28)were negatively correlated with NDF content. The selected foliages indicated that the mineral concentrations were within the normal range. Nevertheless, Na was deficient in all the foliages. It is concluded that among different foliages, Ficus dalhousiae, Callicarpa vestita, Melia azadiracta, Trema orientalis and Lagerstroemia speciosa could be used as moderate energy and rumen undegradable protein source.