CORRELATION COEFFICIENT (r) AND DRY MATTER DEGRADABILITY OF SOME FICUS SPECIES USING IN SACCO TECHNIQUE

Abstract

Dry matter (DM) degradation of Five Ficus species forages was determined using the in sacco degradability technique. Samples were incubated in situ for 3, 6, 12, 24, 48, 72 and 96 h. In sacco DM degradation kinetics were described using the equation y = a + b (1-e). The result showed that all ficus species leaves studied have high dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent fibre (ADF) acid detergent lignin (ADL) and low total condensed tannin and phenolics. The soluble but degradable fraction (a), rate of degradation (c) of insoluble fraction b, lag t and effective degradability (ED) were generally low for all the Ficus species forage. DM disappearance was high at 72 h (above 50%) for all the browse species. Correlation coefficient (r) shows both positive and negative relationships. Negative but significant relationship was observed between CP and DM disappearance at 3, 6, 12, 24 and 48 h incubation period. NDF, ADF, ADL, TCT and PHE show weak relationship with incubation time and fementation characteristics. In conclusion, the browse species forages can used as dry season feed because of the high level of CP content and low level of anti-nutritive substances.