A note on the chemical composition and feeding characteristics of diets containing Leucaena leucocephala and Arachis pintoi for growing rabbits

D Nieves, Basilia Silva, O Terán, C González^* and J Ly^**

Universidad Nacional de los Llanos "Ezequiel Zamora" (UNELLEZ)
PO Box 3323, Guanare, Portuguesa, Venezuela
dnieves@cantv.net
^*Universidad Central de Venezuela
El Limón, Maracay, Aragua, Venezuela
caraujo2@telcel.net.ve
^**Swine Research Institute
PO Box 1, Punta Brava, Havana City, Cuba
julioly@utafoundation.org

Abstract

Feeding characteristics of diets containing leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala) or arachis (Arachis pintoi) leaf meal were determined with 32 California x New Zealand rabbits. Four diets were formulated to contain 30 and 40% of either leucaena or arachis foliage meal and were offered ad libitum during eleven days to growing rabbits weighing on average 0.98 kg according to a randomized block design.

The pattern of feed intake, as determined during the first hour after offering the meal in the morning, showed that rabbits spent more time eating the diet containing leucaena than arachis. Daily feed consumption was higher on the leucaena diet (73.6 g DM/day) as compared to arachis (60.7 g/day). Daily feed consumption was directly related (R² = 0.87) to the number of times the rabbits were observed to be eating during the first hour in the mornning after receiving fresh feed.

Key words: Arachis pintoi, feed intake, Leucaena leucocephala, rabbits

Introduction

The use of locally available foliage in the nutrition of the rabbit is a subject relatively unexplored in tropical countries (Onifade and Tewe 1993; Nieves et al 1995; Oduguwa et al 2000). This is in spite of the fact that tropical foliages are locally available and of low cost, which is in contrast with the scarcity and often high cost of commercial feeds.

Leucaena leucocephala is a legume tree found originally in Mexico. It is considered to produce a high biomass yield of relatively high nutritive value for animal production (FIRA 1980). Arachis pintoi is a legume from South America that also has a high nutritive value (Grof 1985; Rincón and Arguelles 1991). Both species are commonly found in the Venezuelan plains, and could be used for feeding herbivorous animals (Gonzalvo et al 2001).

The main objective of the present  communication is to present data on the chemical composition of leucaena and arachis foliage grown in Guanare and the effect of it inclusion as foliage meal in diets for growing rabbits.

Materials and methods

Four diets,  formulated to contain 30 and 40% of either leucaena or arachis foliage DM basis), were offered ad libitum during eleven days to 32 rabbits weighing on average 0.98 kg. The design was a randomized block arrangement.

Leucaena and arachis foliage meal were harvested from cultivars grown at the University farm, sun dried and then ground. Four representative samples were obtained from both batches of foliage meal for chemical analysis. The experimental diets were prepared with either 30 or 40% of the foliage meals and 70 or 60% of a basal diet composed (% as DM) of: soybean meal 20, maize meal 30, wheat bran 40, sugar cane molasses 8, CaCO₃ 0.4, CaPO₄H.2H₂O 0.8, vitamins and minerals (according to NRC 1977) 0.5 and NaCl 0.3.

The rabbits (California x New Zealand) were individually housed in wired cages (0.5x05x0.4 m) provided with troughs for feed and water. The diets were given ad libitum in meal form. Refusals were recorded daily. The eating time was recorded early in the morning during the first hour after the renewal of feeds in the troughs, after ten days of adaptation to diets, according to the cafeteria test of Herrera et al (2001). The animals were weighed at the start and end of the study. On average, the initial live weight 978 g.

Samples of the foliage meals and diets were analyzed for DM and proximal chemical components following the recommendations of AOAC (1990). The organic matter content was considered as the difference between the ash content and 100%. The analyses of neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and acid detergent fibre (ADF) were undertaken according to Van Soest et al (1991).

The analysis of variance technique was used to test effect of dietary treatment on eating time and daily feed intake. Contrasts amongst means were done by the multiple comparisons test of Kruskal-Wallis and Tukey (Steel and Torrie 1980).

Results and discussion

Leucaena foliage contained less crude fibre and cell walls than arachis foliage (Table 1). Crude fibre levels in the diets were in the range of 12.8 to 16.9% (Table 2). According to Champe and Maurice (1983), rabbits require more than 9% crude fibre in feed for normal growth.

 

The number of times the rabbits were observed to be eating  during the first hour after receiving fresh feed was greater for the diets with leucaena  and this was reflected in higher feed intake for this foliage (Table 3).  The same trend was observed in a previous trial when leucaena and arachis were given in fresh form (Nieves et al 1995).

There was a close relationship  (Figure 1) between number of times spent eating during the first hour after being offered fresh feed and the daily feed intake.

Figure 1. Relationship between feed intake and number of times the rabbits were observed
 to be eating  during the first hour after being offered fresh feed

Conclusions

Complete diets containing 30 or 40% leucaena leaf meal were more palatable than diets containing the same levels of arachis meal.

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the staff of the UNELLEZ at Guanare, Venezuela, for technical assistance during the conduct of the experiment, and the librarians of the Swine Research Institute at Havana, Cuba, for assistance with access to literature.

References

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