Chemical Composition and Nutritive Value of Leaves from Different Bamboo Cultivars

Twelve different bamboo leaves (Sasa auricoma, Bambusa nutans, B. bambos, Phyllostachys aurea, B. tulda, Dendrocalamus asper, B. ventricosa, D. strictus, Melocanna baccifera, D. hookerii, B. vulgarisand D. hamiltonii) at similar maturity level growing in the bamboo fields of Himachal Pradesh were selected. The CP content (%) of bamboo leaves ranged from 14.61 (B. tulda) to 20.39 (D. hamiltonii) having unavailable protein fraction C ranged from 19.06 (M. baccifera) to 36.08% (B. bambos) and slowly degradable fraction from 33.30 (M. baccifera) to 56.61% (D. strictus). Acid detergent lignin ranged from 9.43% in B. ventricosa to 4.87% inM. baccifera. Neutral detergent solubles and non-structural carbohydrates were high in M. baccifera (34.62%, 12.06%) and low in B. nutans (21.47%, 1.10%). D. hookerii had lowest acid insoluble ash (4.38%). All the leaves had higher Ca (1.028–1.832%) and low P (0.051–0.181%) and were also low in total phenols (0.158–0.534%). M. baccifera revealed higher in vitro gas production (IVGP, ml/200 mg DM), DM and OM digestibility, TDN (52.21%), ME (7.88 MJ/kg), voluntary feed intake (VFI, 69.6 g/kg W^0.75), relative feed value (103.7) and quality index (1.253) compared to other bamboo cultivars. The VFI showed significant positive correlation with CP (r = 0.789; P < 0.01), TDN (r = 0.694; P < 0.01), IVGP (r = 0.628; P<0.05), DM and OM digestibility and negative with ADF and lignin content. The leaves of M. baccifera, D. hookerii, andD. hamiltonii cultivars were considered as promising fodder for the ruminants.