Seasonal Variation in the Nutritive Value of some Browses Fed to Goats in Umudike South Eastern Nigeria

A seasonal variation in the chemical composition and nutritive value of some browses fed to goats in Umudike, Abia State of Nigeria was conducted during the dry and rainy seasons. The browses were categorized as leguminous and non – leguminous as shown in the tables. The leaves of each of the browses were analyzed for proximate composition. Results showed that the mean crude protein (CP) in the leguminous browses was 21.12 + 0.77% and 23.15 + 3.15% for dry and rainy seasons respectively. The mean CP concentrations for non – leguminous browses were 15.26 + 0.75% and 18.47 + 1.11% for dry and rainy seasons respectively. The greatest CP content was recorded in Leucaena leucocephala (29.72%) during the rainy season while the lowest was in Aspilia africana (8.05%) during the dry season. The digestible crude protein (DCP) concentration for the leguminous were 16.12 +0.72 and 18.01 + 0.49 for dry and rainy seasons while those for the non – leguminous were 13.17 + 1.05 and 13.65 + 1.01 for dry and rainy seasons respectively. The in vitro organic matter digestibility (IVOMD) values ranged from 44.73 to 53.21% and were highest in the non – leguminous browses during the rainy season (51.65 + 0.32). The mean Ca and P concentrations were 1.47 + 0.20, 0.20 +0.03 in the dry season for leguminous browses while 1.28 +0.08, 0.32 +0.02 in the dry season and 1.12 +0.12, 0.32 +0.02 in the rainy season for non – leguminous browses. In the rainy season browses have higher CP contents but the fluctuations in the nutrient contents of the browse plants with changing seasons are less drastic and therefore can be harvested in both seasons.