Chemical composition and in sacco degradability of four varieties of cassava leaves grown in Southwestern Nigeria in the rumen of sheep.

The nutritive value of leaves of four varieties of cassava (MS 6, TMS 30555, Idileruwa and TMS 30572) were studied through analysis of their chemical components and degradability of their dry matter (DM) and crude protein (CP) in the rumen of sheep. Results of the chemical analyses showed that the leaves of the four varieties contained different proportions of organic matter which was significantly (P < 0.05) highest in TMS 30572 with value of 935 g/kg DM, while CP (gram per kilogramme DM) was significantly highest in TMS 30555 (240), followed by MS 6 (235), TMS 30572 (208) and least in Idileruwa (177). Mean metabolisable energy (megajoules per kilogramme DM) was significantly (P < 0.05) highest in TMS 30572 (8.2) and similar with Idileruwa (8.0) but different from TMS 30555 and MS 6, respectively (7.8 and 7.6). The mineral contents (gram per kilogramme DM) showed that leaves of MS 6 and Idileruwa had the highest concentrations of K (2.86) and a significantly lowest value (1.83) in TMS 30555. Also, the highest concentration of Ca and Fe (6.81 and 6.23) was recorded in MS 6. The highest Ca:P of 3.20 was obtained in TMS 30555. DM degradation characteristics and effective degradability varied significantly (P < 0.05) and were consistently highest in TMS 30572. The washing loss (a) ranged from 15.9% in MS 6 to 21.3% in TMS 30572. TMS 30572 tended to have higher (P = 0.546) insoluble but fermentable fraction (b) than all other varieties. Moreover, the potential degradability (a + b) tended to be higher (P = 0.041) in TMS 30572 (69.5%) followed by TMS 30555 (67.1%) and the lowest was in Idileruwa (42.7%). The highest effective degradability was recorded in TMS 30572 (63.9%) and the lowest in Idileruwa (40.7%). The degradation rate constants (c) of Idileruwa was significantly higher (P = 0.001) than those of MS6, TMS 30555 and TMS 30572. The results generally indicated that the leaves could be ranked for their potential feeding value as TMS 30572 (71.5%) > MS6 (65.8%) > Idileruwa (63.0%) > TMS 30555 (50.4%). It is therefore concluded from this study that leaves of TMS 30572 and MS 6 have good potential as feed resources for ruminant animals and could be used in ruminant feeding as protein source ingredient.