An evaluation of nutritive value of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes Mart. Solms-Laubach) harvested from different water sources as animal feed

A A Mako, O J Babayemi* and A O Akinsoyinu*

Department of Agricultural Production and Management Sciences
Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijagun. Ijebu-Ode
PMB, 2118, Ijebu-Ode. Ogun State, Nigeria.
Jokemako2006@yahoo.com
* Department of Animal Science
University of Ibadan

Abstract

One of the major problems of water ways in Nigeria is the rapid infestation of water hyacinth causing environmental hazard. Water hyacinth (WH), may be useful as sustaining feed source for livestock especially ruminants. The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential of water hyacinth (WH) for ruminant nutrition. The chemical composition and spot test analysis for saponin, tannin and steroids was determined. In vitro gas production of WH collected from different water sources (DWS) during dry season was carried out under a 24 h in vitro gas fermentation in order to estimate the Metabolizable energy (ME), Organic matter digestibility (OMD) and Short Chain Fatty Acids (SCFA). Methane production was estimated at 24 h post incubation.

 The crude protein, ether extract, and ash varied significantly (P<0.05) by different sources of WH. The CP varied from 10.3 to 10.4 g/100g DM. The dry matter, crude fibre, acid detergent fibre and neutral detergent fibre were not significantly affected by different water sources. Qualitative evaluation of the secondary metabolites showed that WH from all different water sources contained tannins and steroids; saponin was found but declared negative due to the qualitative method used. Plants from all DWS were rich in minerals.The cumulative gas produced at 24 h was 19.3, 18.2, 16.0 and 18.0 ml/200 mg DM for DWS 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively. The CH₄ production differed significantly (p<0.05) with water source 2 recording the highest value of 5.0 ml and the lowest value 2.7 ml was recorded for water source 3. The ME, OMD and SCFA  also varied significantly (p<0.05) ranging from 5.0 to 5.5 MJ/Kg DM, 44.6 to 50.4 % and 0.437  to 0.522 umol respectively. The nutritive composition, secondary metabolites and in vitro gas production parameters showed a potentially high CP and energy available in water hyacinth, suggesting its possibility of being utilized for ruminant production in the tropics.

Key words: Composition, Eichhornia crassipes, in vitro gas production, secondary metabolites, water source

Introduction

Livestock in the tropics are still facing the challenges of poor nutrition, as the available crop residues or by-products are of low nutritive value (Babayemi et al 2004a). The grass is low in crude protein and insufficiently available during the dry season (Bamikole and Babayemi 2004).

One way to help alleviate this feed shortage would be the development of new technology for the utilization of aquatic plants as livestock feed. In Nigeria, water hyacinth is the most common and abundant specie of aquatic plants growing abundantly throughout the year in rivers, ponds, lakes, road side ditches, and low lying paddy fields, without agronomic care. Moreover, it does not compete with other agricultural useful vegetation for growing space. Due to its high reproductive rate, this plant frequently cause blockage of navigable waters and irrigation ditches. In this situation, the utilization of WH as feed for livestock may offset the cost of removal. The chemical composition of most aquatic plants suggests that they are acceptable animal feeds and that they have more minerals and protein (Mohammed et al 1983) and less fibre (Bailey 1965)  than most terrestrial forages on dry matter basis. Feeding trials had been conducted using WH to determine the nutritional properties (Khan et al 1981).

This study was undertaken to access the nutritive value of WH harvested during the dry season from different water sources, through the analysis of their nutrients and antinutrient components as well as their in vitro gas digestibility and gas potentials.

 
Materials and methods

Analysis of proximate components and fibre fractions

Twenty (20) stands each of fresh samples of water hyacinth was collected from different water sources (canal, lagoon, river and dam) in the month of February 2006. The samples were washed and the roots were cut off and discarded. The samples were oven dried at 100 ⁰C until constant weight was obtained for dry matter determination. Also analysed were crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE) and Ash according to the conventional methods (AOAC 1990). Neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent fibre (ADF) and acid detergent lignin (ADL) were determined using the method described by Van Soest et al (1991).

Qualitative determination of saponin, phenols and steroids

Saponin, phenols and steroids were determined as reported by Babayemi et al (2004a). Briefly, 2g of dried samples were extracted with 30 ml of petroleum ether (PE) and 25 ml of methanol water (M/W, 9/1. V/V). The mixture was shaken at 250 revolutions per minute for 1hr.30mins, filtered and separated by a funnel. The lower (M/W) and upper (PE) layers were emptied in into 50ml volumetric flask. From the M/W fraction, 1,67 ml was dispensed into 9 ml distilled water, and out of it, 1 ml was taken to a test tube. The test tube was shaken for 30 seconds and left to stand for 15 mins. Saponin content was evaluated from the height of the foam layer as (< 5 mm) negligible, (5-9 mm) low, (10-14 mm) medium and (>15 mm) high. For phenol analysis, 1 ml from the M/W fraction was dispensed into five bottles with 1% FeCl₃ added at different levels (0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1ml respectively).Phenol form complexes with ferric iron, resulting in a blue solution and hence, their presence was scored as : no phenol (no colour change), hydrolysable (dark blue) and condensed tannin (dark-green). For steroids, 10 ml from the PE fraction was evaporated in a water bath at 45⁰C and 0.5ml chloroform, 0.25 ml acetic anhydride and 0.125 ml conc. H₂S04 were added. The mixture was agitated briefly and the colour reaction was accessed being steroids (blue or green), triterpenoids (red, pink or purple) or saturated steroids (light yellow)

Analysis of minerals

A total of seven minerals was analysed. Plant parts were digested with HNO₃ / HCIO₃ mixtures (nitric acid and perchloric acid) (20:5 v/v). The digest was made up to 100 ml in standard volumetric flask with deionzed water. Ca, Na, K, Fe, Cu and Zn in the digest were determined with the atomic absorption spectrophotometer model 420. (Gallenkemp and Co. Ltd). Phosphorus in the digest was estimated with vanadomolybdate solution. The colour so developed was read with spectrophotometer at 420 m/u. 

In vitro gas production

Rumen fluid was obtained from three West African Dwarf female goats through suction tube before the morning feed. The animals were fed with wheat offal and guinea grass. Incubation was as reported (Menke and Steingass 1988) using 120 ml calibrated syringes in three batch incubation at 39 ⁰C, into 200 mg samples in the syringes was introduced 30 ml inoculums containing cheese cloth strained rumen liquor and buffer (NaHC0₃ +  Na₂HP0₄  + KCl + NaCl + MgS0_4. 7H₂0 + CaCl_2.  2H₂0) (1:2, v/v) under continuous flushing with C0₂. The gas production was measured at 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21 and 24, after 24h of incubation, 4 ml of NaOH (10 M) was introduced to estimate the amount of methane produced. The average of the volume of gas produced from the blanks was deducted from the volume of gas produced per sample. The volume of gas produced at intervals was plotted against the incubation time, and from the graph, the gas production characteristics were estimated using the equation Y= a+b(1-e^-ct) described by Orskov and McDonald (1979), where Y= volume of gas produced at time ‘t’, a = intercept (gas produced from insoluble fraction), c = gas production rate constant for the insoluble fraction (b), t = incubation time, metabolizable energy (ME, MJ /Kg DM ) and organic matter digestibility (OMD, %) were estimated as established (Menke and Steingass 1988) and short chain fatty acids (SCFA, umol) was calculated as reported (Getachew et al 1999)

ME = 2.20 + 0.136^*GV + 0.057^*CP + 0.0029^*CF

OMD = 14.88 + 0.889GV + 0.45CP + 0.651XA

SCFA = 0.0239^*GV – 0.0601

Where GV, CP, CF and XA are net gas productions (ml /200 mg DM), crude protein, crude fibre and ash of the incubated samples respectively.

Statistical analysis

Data obtained were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) and mean separations where there were significant differences was by Duncan multiple range F-test using statistical Analysis System (SAS 1987) package

Results

Presented in Table 1 is the chemical composition of water hyacinth collected from different water source (DWS) respectively. The dry matter (DM) ranged from 7.70 to 7.97 g /100 g DM in DWS 2 and DWS 3 respectively. The crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE) and Ash contents differ significantly (P<0.05), the highest values 10.4 (DWS 4), 1.66 (DWS 1 and 4) and 24.6 g /100 g DM (DWS 1) and the lowest values 10.3 (DWS 3), 1.65 (DWS 2 and 3) and 20.4 g /100 g DM (DWS 4) were recorded for CP, EE and Ash respectively. ADF and NDF did not differ significantly (P>0.05) ranging from 36.5 (DWS 2) to 39.7 g /100 g DM and 65.9 (DWS 1 and 4) to 77.9 g /100 g DM (DWS 3) respectively.

Water hyacinth (WH) collected from various different water source (Table 2) showed the presence of condensed tannin and steroids. Although, the qualitative analysis for saponin was judged to be negative, indication for saponin presence was higher in WH collected from DWS 3 (river).

Macro and micro mineral concentration of the plant (Table 3) was not affected by the source of the plant; however, the plant contained mineral content that varied amongst the DWS. The Ca ranged from 0.64 to 0.66 g/100 DM and Fe ranged from 516 to 527 ppm.

 Figure 1 shows the in vitro gas production pattern of WH from all DWS over a period of 24 hr. The total gas produced was highest (19.3 ml) from WH collected from DWS1 (canal) than observed in other DWS.  The lowest (16.0 ml) total gas was produced from WH collected from DWS 3 (river).

Figure 1: In vitro gas production from water hyacinth collected from different water sources

The gas produced from insoluble fraction (b) and potential degradability (a+b) followed the same trend and differ significantly (P<0.05) among the different water source ranging from 15.7 to 12.1 and 19.3 to 15.8 respectively (Table 4).  The gas production rate (c) and the effective degradability (ED) were similar (P>0.05), however, highest value (9.44 ml) was recorded for ED in DWS 1, while the lowest (7.44 ml) was recorded for DWS 3.

Presented in Table 5 are metabolizable energy (ME), organic matter digestibility (OMD), short chain fatty acids (SCFA) and methane (CH₄) production values of WH collected from different water source.  ME differ significantly (P<0.05) among the different water source, ranging from 5.03 (river) to 5.52 MJ / Kg DM (canal), OMD, SCFA and CH₄ also differ significantly ranging from 44.6 (dam) to 50.4 % (canal), 0.437 (river) to 0.522 umol (canal) and 2.70 (river) to 5.00 ml (lagoon). It was observed that methane production was enhanced by WH collected from water source 2 (lagoon) than other water sources.

Discussion

The variations observed in the nutrient composition of WH collected from different water source could be attributed to the difference in the nutrient concentration of the environment in which the plant is growing. Due to good nutrient profile, water hyacinth can be used to supplement the low nutrient value of tropical grasses. The amount of CP (10.42 %) obtained in this study is lower than the value of 12 – 16 % reported by Reza et al 1981. The level of CP was higher than the critical level of 7.0 g /100 g DM below which feed intake will be depressed (Minson 1990). The level of CP here also meets the protein requirement for ruminants which is 8 g /100 g DM (NRC 1981). The CP ranges were sufficiently high to warrant utilization of the plant as a source of protein supplement to low quality diet. The ash content was highest in DWS 1 which is canal, this high value obtained from this water body could be attributed to high rate at which effluents flow into it, however, the high ash content of WH from all DWS indicates that the plant will be a good source of minerals to ruminants. The NDF concentrations obtained from all the DWS are higher than the reported value of 55.00 – 60.00 g /100g DM that can limit the intake of forages (Meissner 1991)

Qualitative evaluation of some secondary metabolites did not implicate all WH for saponin content; however, judging by the trend of gas production, saponin content (3 mm height) obtained in DWS 3 (river) probably inhibited the micro organisms, thereby resulting in reduced gas production. The present observation is evident in the amount of CH₄ produced, being lower in river than other water source, thus seemed suppressing methanogenesis (Teferedgene 2000). Saponin has been identified as the active compound in suppression of methanogenesis (Hess et al 2003). The low content of saponin in all the WH is advantageous, high saponin alone would retard feed intake of ruminants (Onwuka 1990). The tannin content present in all WH is also an added advantage as a natural additive in the diet of ruminants. Tannin form complexes with protein in the rumen as protection against massive proteolysis, thereby diminishing rumen protein digestibility (Barry and McNabb 1999).

Macro and micro mineral contents of WH from all the DWS is within the recommended requirements for grazing animals (NRC 1981). This is an indication that WH will supply the mineral requirements for animals. The macro and micro mineral content of WH are higher than the conventional forages which are in well agreement with other results. The results obtained in this study for Fe, Mn and Zn were comparable to the findings of Grandi 1981 and Lizama et al 1989.  Gas production is a nutritionally wasteful product (Maurico et al 1999), but provides a useful basis from which ME, OMD and SCFA could be estimated. Low production of gas from all WH could infer an increased production of propionate and decrease in acetate and butyrate production (Babayemi et al 2004b). ME and OMD obtained in this study are higher than the value of 5.22 MJ / Kg DM and 49.9 % reported by Khan et al 2002. The high SCFA obtained from all WH in this study is an added advantage as this is an indication that energy is present in the WH.

Conclusions

• Nutrient composition of water hyacinth from all different water sources showed that the plant can be useful protein supplement in ruminant feeding.

• The enhanced values of metabolizable energy and short chain fatty acid in water hyacinth connote its ability to meet the energy requirements of tropical ruminants.

References

AOAC 1990 Official methods of Analysis, 15^th edition.Washington, DC, USA: Association of official Analytical Chemist, pp. 69 – 88

Bamikole M A and Babayemi O J 2004 Feeding goats with Guinea grass – Verano stylo and nitrogen fertilized grass with energy concentrate. Archivos de Zootecnia volume 53: 31 – 34. http://www.uco.es/organiza/servicos/publica/az/articulos/2004/201pdf/02Bamikole.pdf 

Babayemi O J, Demeyer D  and Fievez V 2004a Nutritive value and qualitative assessment of secondary compounds in seeds of eight tropical browse, shrub and pulse legumes. Communications in Agricultural and Applied Biological Sciences. Ghent University, 69/1: 103 – 110.

Babayemi O J, Demeyer D  and Fievez V 2004b In vitro fermentation of tropical browse seeds in relation to their content of secondary metabolites, Journal of Animal and Feed Science. Volume 13, (supplementary 1): 31-34

Bailey T A 1965 Commercial possibilities of dehydrated aquatic plants. Proceedings. 18^th Southern weed Conference. 18: 543-551

Barry T N and McNabb W C 1999: The implication of condensed tannins on the nutritive value of temperate forages fed to ruminants. British Journal Nutrition. Volume 81:  263-272

Fievez V, Babayemi O J and Demeyer D 2005 Estimation of direct and indirect short chain fatty acid production that requires minimal laboratory facilities. Animal feed science and Technology. 123-124: 197-210

Getachew G, Makkar H P S and Becker K 1999  Stoichiometric Relationship between short chain fatty acids and in vitro gas production in presence and absence of  polyethylene glycol for tannin containing browses. EAAP satellite symposium gas production; Fermentation kinetics for feed evaluation and to assess microbial activity. August 18- 19. Wageningen, Netherlands.

Grandi A 1981 Use of water hyacinth (Eihhornia crassipes) in the diets for rabbits. Journal Coniglicoltura, volume 18 (6): 43-48.

Hess H, Kreuzer D M, Diaz T E, Lascano C E, Carnulla J E,  Soliva C R and  Machmuller A 2003 Saponin rich tropical fruits, effect of fermentation and methanogenesis in faunated and defaunated rumen fluid. Animal Feed Science and Technology, 109: 79-84

Khan M J, Razzaque M A and Tareque A M M 1981 Effect of feeding water hyacinth in combination on the growth of bullocks. Bangladesh Journal of Agricultural Science. volume 6 (1): 16-22

http://agris.fao.org/agris-search/search/display.do?f=1982/XB/XB82010.xmI;XB8125463

Khan M J, Steingass H and Drochner W 2002 Nutrition evaluation of some aquatic plants for animal feeding. Bangladesh Journal of Agricultural Science. 29 (2): 317-324. http://www.uni-hohenheim.de172633.html?typo3state=allpublications&institution=419

Lizama L C, Dowell L R and Larion J E 1989  Utilization of aquatic plants Elodea Canadensis and Hydrilla verticillate in laying hen diets. 2. Macro minerals and Micro minerals. Nutrition Reports International volume 39, (3): 521-536

Maurico R  M, Mould F L,  Abdalla A L and Owen E 1999 The potential nutritive value for ruminants of some tropical feedstuffs as indicated by in vitro gas production and chemical analysis. Unpublished

Meissner H H, Viljoen M D, and Van Nierkeki W A 1991 Intake and digestibility by sheep of Anthephora, Panicum, Rhodes and Smuts Finger grass pastures. Proceedings of the 10^th international Rangeland Congress, September 1991, Montepellier, France. 648 – 649.

Menke K H and Steingass H 1988 Estimation of the energetic feed value obtained from chemical analysis and gas production using rumen fluid.  Animal Research Development.  Volume 28: 7 – 55

Minson D J 1990 Forage in Ruminant Nutrition, (Academic Press, San Deigo, C.A. 482pp)

Mohammed R, Sarswatt B L and Singh G S 1983 Utilization of aquatic plant as cattle feed, chemical composition and in vitro digestibility of some aquatic plants. Indian Veterinary Journal. Volume 60: 51-55

NRC 1981 Nutrient requirements for goats: Angora, dairy and meat in temperate and tropical countries. National Research Council. National Academy of Science press Washington DC, USA

Onwuka C F I 1990 Tannin and Saponin contents of some tropical browse specie fed to goats. Tropical Agriculture (Trinidad) volume 69, article no. 2: 176-180

Orskov E  R and McDonald I 1979 The estimation of protein degradability in the rumen from incubation measurements weighed according to rate of passage. Journal of Agricultural Science. Cambridge 92: 499-503

Reza A and Khan J 1981 Water hyacinth as cattle feed.  Indian Journal of Animal Science. 51: 702 – 706

SAS 1987 Statistical Analytical System. SAS / STAT. Users guide. Version 6, 3^rd edition. Cary, North Carolina, USA. 943pp.

Teferedgene B 2000 New perspectives in the use of tropical plants to improve ruminant nutrition. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society. volume 59: 209-214 http://journals.cambridge.org/action/59&issueId=02&aid=796384&fulltextType-MR&field-s0029665100000239

Van Soest P J, Robertson J B and Lewis B 1991 Methods for dietary fibre, neutral detergent fibre, and non starch polysaccharides in relation to animal nutrition. Journal of Dairy Science. Volume 74, 3583 – 3597 http://jds.fass.org/cgi/reprint/74/10/3583.pdf

Received 10 August 2010; Accepted 19 March 2011; Published 1 May 2011

Go to top