Abstract

Browse acacia trees provide feeds of high protein content for livestock in the arid and semiarid regions of Africa. They are important for subsistence livestock production in Sudan. They are a source of high quality protein and minerals for sheep, goats and camels especially in the dry season when the quantity and quality of other feed recourses decline. The nutritive value and digestibility of leaves from five browse trees were analyzed in this study. Browse trees employed in this study are: Acaciabalbida, Acacia nubica, Acacia sieberiana, Balanites aegyptiaca, and Ziziphus-spina- Christi. Leaves were collected from different areas of the semi arid region of the Sudan. The browse samples were analyzed for their chemical composition, fiber fractions and anti-nutritive components of their leaves, and dry matter disappearance rate. Three fistulated goats were used to determine dry matter disappearance rate (nylon bag technique) at different periods of time. The results showed that the browse species studied have good nutrients contents, especially proteins, and have low and safe levels of anti-nutritional factors, and may therefore form good feed resources for ruminant animal production during dry season. The acacia browse leaves have variable amount of lignin and tannin, which might have contributed to the lower DM digestibility of leaves observed for some species in this present study. However, the results of this study revealed that A .nubica may be considered to be an ideal browse acacia tree for this area of Sudan, because of its high protein and energy content, low lignin and tannin, and high DM digestibility. The results of this study should encourage more research and serious efforts on the propagation of high quality trees such as A. nubica.

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