Potential nutritive value and methane production of pods, seed and senescent leaves of Gleditsia triacanthos trees

E Kaya, O Canbolat¹, A I Atalay², O Kurt and A Kamalak

Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam, Kahramanmaras, Turkey
akamalak@ksu.edu.tr
¹ Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Uludag, Bursa, Turkey
² Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Animal Science, University of Igdır, Igdır, Turkey

Abstract

The potential nutritive value of different fractions of honey locust was evaluated by their chemical composition and in vitro gas production method.

There were significant (P<0.001) differences among parts of honey locust tree in terms of chemical composition. Crude ash (CA) content ranged from 2.55 to 9.19 % of DM with highest being for senescent leaves and lowest for seed of honey locust tree. Crude protein (CP) contents ranged from 7.72 to 17.2 % of DM with highest being for seed and lowest for pod and senescent leaves of honey locust tree. Cell wall contents such as neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF) and Acid detergent lignin (ADL) ranged from 24.6 to 46.1, 16.9 to 30.6 and 7.89 to 10.4 % of DM respectively, with highest being for senescent leaves of honey locust tree. Starch contents ranged from 18.6 to 22.7 % of DM with highest being for seed and lowest for pod whereas starch was not detected in senescent leaves of honey locust tree. Condensed tannin (CT) contents ranged from 0.27 to 15.4% of DM with highest being for senescent leaves and lowest for seeds. Gas and methane productions at 24 h incubation ranged from 33.1 to 67.1, 5.48 to 9.68 ml with highest being for seed and lowest for senescent leaves of honey locust tree respectively.

In conclusion, pod, seed and senescent leaves of honey locust tree have a potential to provide energy and protein for ruminant animals. However high level of condensed tannin in pods and senescent leaves of honey locust tree should be taken into consideration when included into ruminants diets.

Key words: chemical composition, honey locust, leaves, pod, seed

Introduction

Tree and shrubs have important role in livestock nutrition since the leaves and pods of trees have been used to meet the nutrient requirements of livestock in the most parts of world (Salawu et al 1999; Bruno-Soares and Abreu 2003; Karabulut et al 2006; Melesse et al 2008; Sanon et al 2008; Obeidat et al 2011; Kamalak et al 2012). Although Gladitsia triacanthos is one of introduced legume trees which were well adapted to the most parts of Turkey, produces considerable amount leaves and pods, it is undervalued in terms of animal nutrition due to lack of sufficient information on the nutritive value for livestock. Chemical compositions, in combination with in vitro gas production were widely used to determine the potential nutritive value of feedstuffs which are previously limited or uninvestigated (Kamalak et al 2011; Canbolat 2012; Denek et al 2016). Recently there are increased interest in determination and reduction of methane emission by ruminants since methane production during the fermentation of feedstuffs is energetically a wasteful process (Getachhew et al 2005), which account for loss of approximately 2-12 % of gross energy intake (Johnson and Johnson 1995). Recently the methane production potential of ruminant feedstuffs have been determined using in vitro gas production technique (Goel et al 2008; Kaplan et al 2014; Denek et al 2016) since there are highly significant correlation between in vitro and in vivo experiments in terms of methane production (Getachew et al 2005; Blümmel et al 2005; Bhatta et al 2007; Meale et al 2012).

The aim of the current study was to evaluate the potential nutritive value and methane production of leaves, seed and pods of Gleditsia triacanthos using the chemical composition and in vitro gas production.

Materials and methods

Leave and pod samples

Senescent leaves and pods were collected by hand from eat least 10 different Gleditsia triacanthos trees in Nowember 2015 in Kahramanmaras. Turkey Senescent leaves and pods samples were pooled and dried at 65 ^oC using a forced air oven. Seeds were separated by hand from some of dried pods. Dried senescent leaves, pods and seed were ground using a laboratory mill with 1 mm screen size for chemical analysis and in vitro gas production.

Figure 1. Pods and senescent leaves of Gleditsia triacanthos tree

Chemical analysis

Dry matter content was determined by drying the samples at 105 ^oC and ash content by igniting the samples in muffle furnace at 525 ^oC for 8 h (AOAC 1990). Ether extract contents of samples were determined by the Soxhlet method (AOAC 1990). Nitrogen contents of samples were measured by the Kjeldahl method (AOAC 1990). Crude protein contents of samples were calculated as N X 6.25. NDF, ADF and ADL contents of samples were determined using the method described by van Soest et al (1991). Starch contents of samples were determined by polarimetric method described by EEC (1972). Condensed tannin contents of samples were determined by butanol-HCl method as described by Makkar et al (1995). All chemical analyses of samples were carried out in triplicate.

In vitro gas and methane production

Rumen fluid was obtained from three fistulated sheep fed twice daily with a diet containing alfalfa hay (60%) and concentrate (40%). Samples were incubated in vitro buffered rumen fluid in calibrated glass syringes following the procedures of Menke et al (1979). Approximately 200 mg of samples was weighed into calibrated glass syringes of 100 ml. Buffered rumen fluid (30 ml) was transferred into glass syringes of 100 ml including samples. Glass syringes were incubated in a water bath at 39 ⁰C for 24 hours. The syringes were gently shaken 30 min after the start of incubation and every hour for the first 10 h of incubation. Net gas productions of samples were determined at 24 h after incubation and corrected for blank and hay standard (University of Hohenheim, Germany).

Methane contents (%) of total gas produced at 24 h fermentation of samples were measured using an infrared methane analyzer (Sensor Europe GmbH, Erkrath, Germany) (Goel et al 2008). After measuring gas produced at 24 h incubation, gas samples was transferred into inlet of the infrared methane analyzer with the plastics syringe. The infrared methane analyzer displays methane as percent of total gas. Methane production (mL) was calculated as follows.

Methane production (mL) = Total gas production (mL) X Percentage of Methane (%)

Statistical analysis

Data of chemical composition, in vitro gas production and methane production were subjected to One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Significance between individual means was identified using the Tukey's multiply range test. Mean differences were considered significant at P<0.05. Standard errors of means were calculated from the residual mean square in the analysis of variance.

Results and discussion

Chemical composition of senescent leaves, pod and seed of honey locust tree

The chemical composition of pod, seed and senescent leaves of honey locust tree are given in Table 1. There were significant (P<0.001) differences among parts of honey locust tree in terms of chemical composition. Crude ash content ranged from 2.55 to 9.19 % of DM with highest being for senescent leaves and lowest for seed of honey locust tree. The CA content of pod obtained in the current experiment is consistent with findings of Kamalak et al (2012) who reported that CA contents of pod ranged from 3.53 to 5.1% of DM and also indicated that growing site has a significant effect on the CA contents of honey locust tree. The CA content of pod obtained in the current experiment is also consistent with finding of Bruno-Soares and Abreu (2003) who reported the CA of pod as 3.9 % of DM.

The CP contents ranged from 7.72 to 17.2 % of DM with highest being for seed and lowest for pod and senescent leaves of honey locust tree. The CP of pod obtained in the current experiment is consistent with findings of Kamalak et al (2012) who reported that CP contents of pod ranged from 6.72 to 11.9% of DM and also indicated that growing site has a significant effect on the CP contents of honey locust tree. The CP content of pod obtained in the current experiment is also consistent with finding of Bruno-Soares and Abreu (2003) who reported the CP of pod as 7 % of DM. The CP content of senescent leaves was considerable lower than that reported by Canbolat (2012) who reported that leaves of honey locust tree was 14.2 % of DM. The difference between two experiments is possibly associated with maturity. It is well known that the CP content of plants decreased with increasing maturity (Kamalak et al 2010).

Cell wall contents such as NDF, ADF and ADL ranged from 24.6 to 46.1, 16.9 to 30.6 and 7.89 to 10.4 % of DM respectively, with highest being for senescent leaves of honey locust tree. The NDF content of pod obtained in the current experiment is consistent with findings of Kamalak et al (2012) who reported that NDF contents of pod ranged from 30.0 to 38.1% and also indicated that growing site has a significant effect on the NDF contents of honey locust tree. On the other hand ADF content of pod of honey locust obtained in the current experiment is higher than those of Kamalak et al (2012) who reported that ADF contents of pod ranged from 19.5 to 26.3% of DM and also indicated that growing site has a significant effect on the ADF contents of honey locust tree. NDF content of senescent leaves was higher than that of Canbolat (2012) who reported that leaves of honey locust tree was 41.6 % of DM whereas ADF contents of content of senescent leaves of honey locust tree was similar to that reported by Canbolat (2012).

Starch content ranged from 18.6 to 22.7 % of DM with highest being for seed and lowest for pod whereas starch was not detected in senescent leaves of honey locust tree.

The CT contents ranged from 0.27 to 15.4% of DM with highest being for senescent leaves and lowest for seeds. The CT content of pod obtained in the current experiment was consistent with findings of Kamalak et al (2012) who reported that CT of pods ranged from 2.78 to 14.8 % of DM and also indicated that growing site has a significant effect on the CT contents of pod from honey locust tree. CT content of obtained in the current experiment was higher than that indicated by Kamalak et al (2012) who reported that CT of pods as 5.4 % of DM. Condensed tannin content of senescent leaves was consistent with that of Canbolat (2012).

Van Soest (1994) suggested that crude protein content browse species should be higher than the minimum level of 7-8% of DM for optimum rumen function and feed intake in ruminant animals. In the current study The CP content of senescent leaves and pod is sufficient to meet minimum level of crude protein requirement whereas the seed is higher than the minimum level of CP requirement of ruminant animals for optimum rumen function and feed intake. On the other hand, high level of CT (more than %5 of DM) may limit protein utilization through chemical formation, inhibition of microbial activity and enzyme (Singleton 1981; Silanikove et al 1996). Optimal utilization of CP may be hampered by high level of CT contents of leaves and pods. Therefore, the possible detrimental effect of CT in leaves and pods of honey locust may be reduced through supplementation with polyethylene glycol (PEG) or treatment with alkali.

In vitro gas and methane production of senescent leaves, pod and seed of honey locust tree

In vitro gas production and methane production of pod, seed and senescent leaves of honey locust tree are given in Table 2. In vitro gas and methane productions at 24 h incubation ranged from 33.1 to 67.1, 5.48 to 9.68 ml respectively, with highest being for seed and lowest for senescent leaves of honey locust tree. Although there are several factors affecting the extent of gas production, the amount of available carbohydrate for micro-organism is the major factors (Blümmel and Orskov 1993). Therefore pod and seed had a high gas production due to high level of available carbohydrate content when compared with senescent leaves which also high level of condensed tannin content. It was indicated that some of secondary metabolites such as tannin and saponin decreased the amount of gas produced during the fermentation (Kondo et al 2014;Jayanegara et al 2014).

The in vitro gas production of pods of honey locust obtained in the current experiment was consistent with Kamalak et al (2012) whereas the gas production of senescent leaves of honey locust was lower than that reported by Canbolat (2012). The differences between two studies are possibly associated with differences in leave samples. The NDF content of senescent leaves obtained in the current experiment was higher than that reported by Canbolat (2012). It is well know that gas production is negatively correlated with NDF contents (Kamalak 2006).

Lopez et al (2010) suggested that methane percentage of total gas produced after 24 hour fermentation can be used to determine the methane reduction potential of any feedstuffs and the feedstuffs can be classified in three groups, low potential (% methane in gas between >11% and ≤14%), moderate potential (% methane in gas between >6% and <11%), high potential (% methane in gas between >0% and <6%). Therefore it seems to be unlikely that honey locust senescent leaves, pods and seeds studied in the current study had no methane reduction potential since the percentages of methane for honey locust senescent leaves, pods and seeds are higher than %14.

Conclusions

• Senescent leaves, pod and seed of honey locust tree have a potential to provide considerable amount of energy and protein for ruminant animals. However high level of condensed tannin in pods and senescent leaves of honey locust tree should be taken into consideration when included into ruminant diets.

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Received 18 May 2016; Accepted 20 May 2016; Published 1 July 2016

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