Author
Listed:
- Euvrard L. R. Gninkplékpo
(School of Sciences and Technics of Animal Production, Faculty of Agronomic Sciences, University of Abomey-Calavi, Abomey-Calavi P.O. Box 526, Benin
FARAH Centre, Department of Veterinary Management of Animal Resources, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liege, 4000 Liège, Belgium)
- Bossima Ivan Koura
(Ecole de Gestion et d’Exploitation des Systèmes d’Elevage, Université Nationale d’Agriculture, Ketou P.O. Box 43, Benin)
- Paolo D. A. Lesse
(School of Sciences and Technics of Animal Production, Faculty of Agronomic Sciences, University of Abomey-Calavi, Abomey-Calavi P.O. Box 526, Benin)
- Alain Yaoïtcha
(Agronomic Research Center of Northern East, National Institute of Agronomic Research of Benin, Godomey P.O. Box 884, Benin)
- Jodelet Accalogoun
(School of Sciences and Technics of Animal Production, Faculty of Agronomic Sciences, University of Abomey-Calavi, Abomey-Calavi P.O. Box 526, Benin)
- Jean-Luc Hornick
(FARAH Centre, Department of Veterinary Management of Animal Resources, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liege, 4000 Liège, Belgium)
- Jean-François Cabaraux
(FARAH Centre, Department of Veterinary Management of Animal Resources, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liege, 4000 Liège, Belgium)
- Marcel R. B. Houinato
(School of Sciences and Technics of Animal Production, Faculty of Agronomic Sciences, University of Abomey-Calavi, Abomey-Calavi P.O. Box 526, Benin)
Abstract
Livestock supplementation with forage trees is becoming a sustainable alternative to traditional grazing on the open pastures during the dry season in Benin. However, little is known about the feeding preferences of sheep and the digestibility of such native tree/shrub fodder. Such knowledge could improve their use on smallholder farms. Multiple-choice feeding preference tests were conducted on six tree fodders ( Annona senegalensis , Blighia sapida , Cassia sieberiana , Gmelina arborea , Khaya senegalensis , and Mangifera indica ) to determine the best choice to feed the local rams and ewe Djallonke sheep. The cafeteria test involved four rams and four ewes. In addition, an in vivo trial using metabolic cages was conducted to evaluate the voluntary intake of dried woody leaves and the dry matter digestibility of diets containing these dried leaves. Preferences varied significantly ( p ≤ 0.05) according to the woody species. Based on relative intake values, sheep preferred, in decreasing order, the leaves of M. indica , B. sapida , K. senegalensis , G. arborea , A. senegalensis , and C. sieberiana. The apparent digestibility of dry matter was highest ( p ≤ 0.01) in the G. arborea diet (86.8%); all diets presented a value higher than 70%. This study provided helpful information about better resource utilization to improve animal productivity. Further study could evaluate the growth performance of sheep supplemented with tree fodder.
Suggested Citation
Euvrard L. R. Gninkplékpo & Bossima Ivan Koura & Paolo D. A. Lesse & Alain Yaoïtcha & Jodelet Accalogoun & Jean-Luc Hornick & Jean-François Cabaraux & Marcel R. B. Houinato, 2024.
"Forage Preference, Voluntary Intake, and In Vivo Digestibility of Six Tropical Tree Leaves by Sheep in Semi-Arid Areas in Benin Republic (West Africa),"
Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-15, March.
Handle:
RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:6:p:2270-:d:1353785
Download full text from publisher
Corrections
All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:6:p:2270-:d:1353785. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.
If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.
We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .
If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.
For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .
Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through
the various RePEc services.