1Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University, 46 100, Kahramanmaras, Turkey.
2Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Uludag University, Bursa, Turkey.
3Department of Crop Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University, 46 100 Kahramanmaras, Turkey.
Potential nutritive value of young, old and senescent leaves of Arbutus andrachne tree was measured using chemical composition and in vitro gas production technique. Maturity had a significantly adverse effect on the chemical composition and in vitro gas production kinetics. Although crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber contents decreased, condensed tannin (CT) and ash contents increased with maturity. The organic matter digestibility (OMD) and metabolisable energy (ME) ranged from 59.34 to 65.47% and 8.84 to 9.76 MJ/kg DM, respectively. It is concluded that young and old leaves of Arbutus andrachne tree could be considered a moderate quality forage for sheep and goats. However, senescent leaves are only low quality forage.
Arbutus andrachne leaves, nutritive value, gas production
