Potential Nutritive Value of Honey Locust (Gleditsia triacanthos) Pods from Different Growing Sites for Ruminants

The nutritive values of honey locust pods obtained from different growing sites were evaluated by chemical composition and in vitro gas production techniques. Growing site was found to have a significant (P 0.001) effect on the chemical composition. The CP contents of honey locust pods ranged from 67.2 to 119.9 g kg^(-1)DM. Water soluble carbohydrate (WSC) ranged from 122.3 to 152.2 g kg^(-1) DM. Neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and acid detergent fibre (ADF) contents varied with growing site in the range of 299.6 to 414.3 and 195.3 to 262.9 g kg-1 DM, respectively. Condensed tannin (CT) contents ranged from 27.8 to 148.2 g kg^(-1)DM. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) addition significantly (P 0.001) increased gas production and some estimated parameters of honey locust pods obtained from different growing sites. However, honey locust pods obtained from different growing sites showed variable responses to PEG treatment. There were also significant (P 0.001) differences among growing sites in terms of gas production and estimated parameters. Organic matter digestibility (OMD) and metabolizable energy (ME) contents of honey locust pods obtained from different growing sites without PEG supplementation ranged from 58.81 to 65.86% and 8.85 to 9.92 MJ kg^(-1) DM respectively. The improvement in gas production, the OMD and ME with PEG emphasized the negative effect of tannins on digestibility. The increase (%) in the estimated OMD and ME contents ranged from 6.30 to 15.81% and 5.61 to 14.94%, respectively.