Chemical composition of melia volkensii Gurke: an unrealised browse potential for semi-arid agroforestry systems.

Abstract

Results of chemical analyses of some nutritional characteristics of Melia volkensii browse, important for large wild and domestic herbivores in East Africa, are presented. Seeds, fruit pulp, leaves and twigs had high levels of crude protein, crude fat, minerals and fibre. Newly coppiced shoots (leaves and twigs), old shoots, fruit pulp and seed contained 230, 190, 130 and 320 g kg-1 dry weight crude protein, respectively. The essential amino acid profile compared well with the FAD scoring pattern. Tyrosine was the first limiting amino acid in the coppice leaves and twigs, lysine in the cotyledons, and threonine and lysine in the endosperm. The concentrations of crude fat in the seed, fruit pulp, coppice shoots and old shoots were 480, 100, 80 and 50 g kg- \ respectively. The fatty acids in the cotyledon and endosperm were mainly palmitic (110 and 109 g kg-1, respectively), oleic (327 and 252 g kg-1, respectively) and linoleic (487 and 573 g kg- \ respectively). The levels of P, Na, K, Ca, Mg and the CalP ratio per kg dry weight were on average higher than the optimum recommended for ruminants. These results demonstrate that M volkensii browse, especially coppice leaves and twigs, have a high index for nutrient content, and the planting of this species should be promoted in the semi-arid areas to supplement senescent grasses and cereal crop residues.