How Nutritive are the Pasture Browse Species of Nepali Middle Hills?
How Nutritive are the Pasture Browse Species of Nepali Middle Hills?
Ram Prasad Ghimire
ABSTRACT
Middle hill pasturelands of Nepal have an abundance of browse species which are the major sources of roughage feeds for grazing goats. A study was conducted in order to determine the fodder quality of some common pasture browse species among them. The study included the analysis of fodders in the laboratory for nutrient composition, the feeding experiment determining fodder intake and weight gain monitoring in the goats, and a subsequent in-vivo experiment determining the apparent digestibility of fodder nutrients of those browse species. Both of the experiments were conducted in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with six treatments and five replications on native hill goats of Nepal. The fodders of popular five browse species from the pasturelands of Nepali middle hills; Dhayero (Woodfordia fruticosa Kurz), Musure katus (Castanopsis tribuloides (Sm.) Lindl.)), Bamboo (Bamboosa arundinacea (Retz.) Willd.), Titepati (Artemisia vulgaris Willd.) and Sal ((Shorea robusta Roth.) and a mixed fodder were used as the treatments. The results of the study revealed that W. fruticosa was obtained best for nutrient composition (6.94±2.32% total ash and 10.625±2.67% crude protein contents), voluntary fodder dry matter intake (74.40±10.12 g day-1 per kg metabolic weight of goat), apparent dry matter digestibilities of dry matter (54.96±4.77%), crude protein (57.73±5.97%), neutral detergent fiber (52.48±6.0%) and acid detergent fiber (39.29±4.18%) and for the body weight gain of goats (5.35±0.51 kg goat-1 in 120 days) among the investigated five browse species. However, fodders of all the evaluated browse species were inferior in nutrient compositions with less digestible nutrients and contributed to the poorer body weight gain of male goats in comparison to the mixed fodder treatment. The study revealed that the browse species included in the study were substandard in fodder quality to goats. This indicates the goats reared in the middle hills of Nepal are undernourished without supplementation and require concentrate feed or good quality fodder to supplement their diet.
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