184
Tree Leaves as Cattle Fodder, I
Period 4
Period 5
. April
May
June
. July
August
September
Dry hot summer
Hot humid summer with rain
It was found possible to classify the leaves into
three main groups according to the trend of varia-
tion in their chemical composition as follows :—
Group 1.
Group 2.
Group 3.
bans, pipal, paker and shisham
neem, beri and imli
aam and jaman.
In group 1, the dry matter content was lowest
in period 3. It started to rise in period 4 and
continued to do so throughout period 5, reaching
a maximum in period 1. The lowest dry matter
value in period 3, however, synchronized with the
highest percentage value for crude protein. With
the advent of summer the value for crude protein
began to drop and the lowest value was recorded
either just before or during the winter. In the
case of bans and shisham, the percentage value of
total carbohydrates followed practically the same
course as that of the dry matter. On the other
hand, the percentage total carbohydrates in the
two ficus species, namely, pipal and paker
showed a somewhat different trend; the highest
percentage value in these two kinds of leaves was
recorded in period 4.
The important mineral matters, such as lime
and phosphate, showed well marked change
similar to those of the organic constituents at the
different periods. The low percentage value for
lime in period 3 corresponded with the low value
for dry matter but, thereafter, the percentage
value started to rise. The progressive rise conti-
nued until the maximum value was reached in
the winter months of periods 1 and 2. The
seasonal change in the phosphate values followed
practically the reverse trend. The maximum
value for phosphate was recorded in period 3 and
then it progressively dropped till the minimum
was reached in period 2. It was interesting to
note that the values of crude protein and phos-
phate were affected in the same way by the chang-
ing seasons.
The seasonal variation in the composition of the
organic and mineral constituents of the leaves of
bans, shisham, paker and pipal has been shown
graphically in Fig. 1.
The trend of variation in the composition of
the leaves in group 2 followed almost an opposite
course from those in group 1. The opposite trend
was very pronounced in the composition of two
important constituents, namely dry matter and
crude protein. Thus the percentage dry matter
in this group of leaves was highest in period 3 and
thereafter fell abruptly in period 4. It reached
its lowest value during the summer months, at the
end of which it started to rise steadily. The
percentage crude protein on the other hand was
practically at its lowest level in period 2 and
continued to remain at this low level up to the
end of period 5. When, however, the real winter
commenced (period 1), the percentage crude
protein started to rise and reached a maximum in
period 2. The percentage total carbohydrate in
the leaves of this group varied within a narrow
range, the difference between the average maxi-
mum and minimum values being only about 8 per
cent. The maximum value of total carbohydrates
was, however, recorded during the dry cool pre-
winter months of period 5.
The mineral matters in this group of leaves also
exhibited a different trend of seasonal change in
composition. Unlike that in the leaves of group 1,
the percentage of lime in these leaves was at its
highest in period 3. It fell rather rapidly to its
Fig. 1. Seasonal variation in the composition of tree leaves.