Page 123 - Agroforestry system - book inner (final corrected) - 9.-3-21_Neat

National level e-symposium on “Agroforestry system for augmenting livestock
productivity and empowering resource poor rural farmers”

It indicates that the quality of extruded feed (Pasupathi et al., 2015) was not affected in chemical
composition, no insect or pest invasion and also the presence of fungi. The leaves contained the aflatoxin
B 25.86 ppm and it was reduced to 13.54 ppm when prepared as extruded feed. The palatability trial of
1
Leucaena leucocephala tree leaf meal based extruded feed is presented in table 3.
Table 3 – Palatability trial of Leucaena leucocephala tree leaf meal based extruded feed (Mean ± SE*)

Parameters Initial day At the end of 180 days
Average body weight (kg) 25.61 ± 1.01 32.14 ± 1.25
b
a
Dry mater intake (kg) 1.12 ± 0.02 1.73 ± 0.05
b
a
Weight gain (kg) 6.51 ± 0.03
The dry matter intake of Lucaena leucocephala tree leaf meal based extruded feed is 1.22 kg at start
of experiment and 1.73 kg at the end of experiment indicates that the animal consumed the extruded feed
according to its dry matter requirement. The extruded feed of complete diets significantly increased the
voluntary feed intake and weight gain in goats and enabled effective utilization of Lucaena leucocephala tree
leaf meal up to 30% level in complete diets (Harun et al.,2015). Cowley and Roschinsky, 2019 stated that
goat can adapt to leucaena toxicosis through bacterial and hepatic detoxification pathways, which permits
productivity gains by the addition of leucaena, up to 100% of the diet.

Conclusion
The Leucaena leucocephala tree leaf meal could be included in the complete diet and prepared as extruded
feed for feeding small ruminants and stored for six months without any deleterious effect on its quality and it
is highly palatable. The extrusion is a technology to preserve the tree leaves with easy transportation, storage
and during the scarcity period for feeding small ruminants.

References
th
AOAC,2012. Official Methods of Analysis of Association of Analytical Chemists, 19 Edn., Association of
Official Analytical Chemists, Benjamin Franklin Station, Washington.
Cowley, F.C and R. Roschinsky, 2019. Incorporating leucaena into goat production systems. Tropical
Grasslands-Forrajes Tropicales. 7(2):173–181 173 DOI: 10.17138/TGFT(7)173-181
Harun, N.L.A., A.R. Alimon, M.F. Jahromi and A.A. Samsudin, 2015. Effects of feeding
goats with Leucaena leucocephala and Manihot esculenta leaves supplemented diets on
rumen fermentation profiles, urinary purine derivatives and rumen microbial population.
Journal of Applied Animal Research. 45: 409-416. https://doi.org/10.1080/09712119.2016.1205499
Pasupathi, K., H.Gopi, M.Babu and P.Muthusamy, 2015. Growth Performance of Rabbits on Tree Leaves
Included Complete Extruder Feed. World Vet J, 5(2): 19-22.

104 Institute of Animal Nutrition, Centre for Animal Production Studies, TANUVAS
National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development