IN VITRO GAS PRODUCTION AND POST INCUBATION PARAMETERS OF FORAGE LEGUMES AS AFFECTED BY DIFFERENT PROCESSING METHODS

Abstract

ABSTRACT The field experiment was carried out at the (CEDEASE) screen house at the College of Plant Science (COPLANT), and the laboratory of the Department of Pasture and Range Management, Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta to evaluate in vitro gas production and post incubation parameters of forage legumes as affected by different processing methods. The experiment was a 3 x 2 factorial arrangement in randomized complete block design with the field area measuring 4.5m2 divided into three (3) replicates. The three processing method used for the study are fresh, wilt and dried with two legumes type Lima bean (Phaseolus lunatus) and Sensitive jointvetch (Aeschynomene histrix), replicated three times. The results shows there were no significant (p>0.05) differences across the parameters except for Ether extract (EE), Ash and Cellulose content as influenced by drying methods. EE and Ash values of 11.42% and 12.50% was recorded for P. lunatus while A. histrix the highest value 21.73 for cellulose content. However, there were no significant (p>0.05) differences across the parameters observed for in vitro gas production and the post incubation parameters except for x24, CO2, IVDMD and ME, with P. lunatus having the higher values than A. histrix. The interaction effect of processing methods on proximate composition (%) and fibre fraction (%) revealed that the parameters are significantly (p<0.05) different, wilted A. histrix had the highest value of 22.43% for CP, while fresh P. lunatus had the lowest CP value of 16.00%. The interaction effect result of the in vitro gas production and the post incubation parameters revealed that the parameters are significantly (p<0.05) different. At the end of the gas production, fresh P. lunatus, have the highest gas production, and there is no different in the gas production of the other processing forms when compare with the legumes. It can be concluded from this study wilting forage before giving it to livestock can increase the crude protein content and it’s also highly digestible.