Acacia melonoxylan (Blackwood): Frost resistant tree fodder variety of Nilgiris hilly region

Abstract

Winter frost followed by the summer drought is the major concern for livestock rearing farmers in hilly tract region. Nutrition is one of the major constraints ruminants, particularly the lack of protein during the dry season. Animals in these areas have to survive on feeding with poor quality roughages that has low nutritive value. Tree fodder plays a vital role during this dry period as a fodder source for the animals. Most of the tree fodders were leguminuous type that is rich in crude protein. Though they are having high protein, it is the digestibility that determines the nutrient availability and the intake of the animals. A study was conducted to evaluate the conventional proximate analysis and in vitro degradability of Acacia melonoxylan, a tree fodder variety available in SBRS, Sandynallah, Nilagiri district of Tamil Nadu, first study in India, to effectively feed the animals that starve during drought period. The tree fodder contains 47.50% of dry matter and Proximate analysis showed 13.66% of CP, 36.75% of crude fibre, 3.52% of Ether extract, 5.95% of Total ash, 40.12% of NFE, 0.89% of Calcium and 0.25% of Phosphorous. Further the In vitro dry matter degradability for 24hrs and 48hrs revealed 15.31 and 36.68% for Acacia. Thus the tree fodder has high CP with better digestibility% indicates that the fodder can be very well utilized during the winter and dry summer periods in hilly tract region especially for grazing small ruminants.