Nutritional evaluation of water hyacinth as ruminant feed to curtail its environmental menace in Nigeria

The suitability of water hyacinth for feeding livestock was studied. The nutrient compositions of stacked water hyacinth for different days were determined. The stacked water hyacinth was incubated for in vitro gas production for 24 hrs. The total gas volume (ml/200 mg DM) at postincubation was measured. Methane (mmol/200 mg DM) was evaluated by introducing 10M NaOH into the content. Metabolize energy (MJ/kg DM) and organic matter degradability (%) were calculated. Acceptability of the forage to livestock was assessed using a cafeteria method in 8 adult small ruminants. (Babayemi et al 2006). Result showed that the crude protein CP (g/100 g DM) ranged between 10.20 – 10.77, while the neutral detergent fibre NDF (g/ 100 g DM) range from 51 -63, the days of stacking increased the Dry matter of the forage, Total gas production (ml) of stacked water hyacinth varied significantly (