Providing high quality fodder during dry seasons is one of the most serious problems faced by many small-scale farmers in developing countries. Albizia lebbeck is particularly promising as a fodder tree for semi-arid regions in the tropics and subtropics, and it has many other uses as well. The tree develops a straight bole when grown in dense forests, but is spreading and low branching in the open.
Flowers are cream colored, hemispheric pompons.
However, it also has been grown successfully in areas with an annual rainfall as low as 400 mm. It grows in Himalayan valleys up to 1600 in. Older trees withstand grass fires and night frosts of considerable intensity. Such stresses kill off above-ground growth of young trees, but new growth usually follows. Most livestock readily eat leaves and young twigs of this fine fodder tree.