ORIGINAL ARTICLES
TREE LEAVES AS CATTLE FODDER
I. THE SEASONAL VARIATION IN THE COMPOSITION OF SOME EDIBLE TREE LEAVES
By S. A. MOMIN and S. C. RAY, Animal Nutrition Section, Imperial Veterinary Research Institute,
Izatnagar
(Received for publication on 12 December 1942)
(With two text-figures)
IN India during times of fodder shortage, green
tree leaves are fairly extensively used for feeding
cattle, goats and sheep, but although the fodder
supply is often supplemented in this way, no
systematic investigation appears to have been
made to study the composition and feeding value
of edible tree leaves.
During the last year and a half, an investigation
has been undertaken in this laboratory to study
the composition, digestibility and feeding value
of the leaves of some of the trees which are known
to be used for feeding cattle. In part I of this
article is reported the seasonal variation in the
composition of the leaves as determined by chemi-
cal analysis carried out at regular intervals from
October 1940 to September 1941.
The following trees were selected for the
study :—
List of trees
No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Tree
Neem .
Pipal .
Paker .
Wild beri
Shisham.
Jaman .
Aam .
Imli .
Bans .
Species
Azadirchta indica .
Ficus religiosa .
Ficus infectoria .
Zizyphus jujuba .
Dalbergia sisso .
Engenia jambolana .
Mangeferus indica .
Tamarindus indica .
Bamboosae indica .
Provinces where the
leaves are used for
fodder purposes
Assam, C. P., Punjab and
U. P.
Assam, Bombay, Orissa,
C. P., Punjab and U. P.
U. P., C. P. and Punjab
Assam, Bombay, C. P.,
Orissa, Punjab and
U. P.
Assam, Bombay, C. P.,
Punjab and U. P.
Bombay, C. P., Orissa and
D. P.
Bombay, C. P., Orissa and
U. P.
Bombay, C. P., Madras,
Orissa and U. P.
C. P. and U. P.
Leaves for analysis were collected from trees on
Izatnagar Estate. The climatic conditions in
this locality may be considered typical of the
Northern Indian plains. The usual dry, hot
season starts towards the end of March and conti-
nues until the end of June. The monsoon breaks
at the beginning of July and the hot humid
weather characteristic of this season lasts till the
end of September. The weather from the middle
of October is dry and cool. The temperature is
comparatively low from the beginning of Decem-
ber to the end of January. The average annual
rainfall in this area is about 40 inches and occurs
mainly during the monsoon months.
EXPERIMENTAL
The investigation was concerned with the
determination of (a) dry matter, (b) crude protein,
(c) crude fibre, (d) ether extract, (e) nitrogen-free
extract, (f) ash, (g) lime and (h) phosphate in the
leaves collected from the same tree at approxi-
mately six-weekly intervals. The sampling of the
material for analysis was carried out according
to the following procedure. Immediately on
collection, the leaves and tender shoots (the
portions usually eaten by cattle) were separa-
ted and finely chopped. With about 100 gm.
of this chopped and well-mixed sample, dry
matter was determined. With another portion of
about 20 gm. of the fresh sample, the total nitro-
gen content was estimated. The rest of the sample
was dried in the sun, ground into a powder in
the milling machine and bottled for subsequent
analysis of the remaining constituents. The
methods of analysis of the different constituents
were those recommended by A. O. A. C. [1935].
The determination of lime and phosphate was,
however, made by the modified methods descri-
bed by Talapatra, Ray and Sen [1940]. The
detailed results of the analysis are shown in Table
A to I (appendix).
DISCUSSION
Seasonal variation in the composition of tree
leaves The data obtained from the present
experiment showed that there was well marked
seasonal variation in the composition of the tree
leaves studied. The trend of variation, however,
was not uniform in all cases. The seasons at
Izatnagar can be divided into five well demarcated
periods, that is :—
Period 1
Period 2
Period 3
. October
November
. December
January
. February
March
Pre-winter
Mid-winter
Post-winter
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