Nutritional Values and Economics of Leguminous Blocks as Goat Feed

Rearing of ruminant animals i.e. sheep and goats, especially is hampered by the seasonal availability of good quality and quantity of feeds such that during the dry season months, the little available forage is of low quality. The consequences are weight loss, low birth weight, low resistance to disease and reduced animal performance (Fajemisin et al., 2010). One potential way for increasing the quality and availability of feeds for smallholder ruminant animals in the dry season may be through the use of fodder trees and shrub legumes. Leaf protein sources obtained in leaf vegetables, legume trees, fodder trees and shrubs as feed resources to all classes of livestock offer tremendous potentials (Aye and Adegun, 2013). As foliage of leguminous trees and bushes are a major source of protein for feeding goats, they are components of pasture and grazing lands. The leaf biomass from the trees and bushes is abundant during the wet season, but the quantity and quality of green biomass declines as the dry season progresses. It can be preserved in the form of leaf meals and by pressing into blocks/briquettes with/without incorporating other concentrate feed ingredients. Keeping quality can be increased and a market value can be obtained. These legume blocks could be fed to small ruminants like sheep and goats as protein supplements would improve the nutritive value of the low quality diets and supply main nutrients to goats as possible alternatives for farmers during the dry season. The main justification for using feed blocks to provide deficient nutrients is the convenience for packaging, storage, transport and ease of feeding. Information on simple method of legume blocks production, the benefits of incorporating various ingredients, minerals, additives in the blocks and nutritive values of legume blocks over the years of storage as a feed is not available under local conditions. The present study was carried out with an objective of determining the nutritive values and keeping quality of legume blocks prepared with different ingredients using simple technology as goat feed