Forage
Prickly sesban leaves and young stems are a good protein source to supplement low nutritive forages, and the low condensed tannin content has no adverse effect on digestibility. As other legume trees, prickly sesban forage will then increase both intake and digestibility of the diet. However, the effects can be variable depending on the proportion of leaves and stems fed to the animals.
Degradability and digestibility
The in sacco DM degradability of Sesban bispinosa foliage was found to be high (85-87%). The N in vivo digestibility assessed in sheep was reported to be 55% and the N retention was 0.32 g N/g N ingested. These values were higher than those reported for Acacia nilotica and Albizia procera foliages (Alam et al., 2007).
As for other forage shrubs, the in vitro OM digestibility of leaves and stems was reported to decrease (from 70.5 to 66.6 %) with maturity (60 or 120 days) and with the length of cuttings. The low values of condensed tannins (about 20 g/kg DM) at 120 days did not seem to have adverse effect on in vivo OM digestibility (Al-Masri, 2009).
Nutritive value of prickly sesban forage tested in sheep was high: 20.6% digestible proteins in DM and energy digestibility of about 68% (Katiyar et al., 1969).
Sheep and goats
Prickly sesban foliage has been mainly tested on small ruminants. The leafy upper half of the shrub was reported to be palatable to sheep (Katiyar et al., 1969). In sheep, DM digestibility of prickly sesban foliage in a diet based on 70% prickly sesban hay and 30% wheat bran decreased with age of cutting (50 or 80 days), from 60% to 50% (Khanum et al., 2010). Used as only feed, leaves could support a moderate growth in castrated male goats (Shahjalal et al., 2000). The chemical composition and consequently the animal performance are related to the proportion of the leaves, stems or wigs and also to the stage of regrowth or maturity. Results must be carefully analysed according to these aspects before drawing any conclusion.
Results obtained on sheep and goats in Asian countries are summarized in the following table.
Table 1. Results obtained in small ruminants fed on prickly sesban
| Animal |
Breed and physiological stage |
Country |
Experiment |
Rate |
Main results |
Reference |
| Goats |
Damascus does (52.2 kg) |
Syria |
Prickly sesban (leaves + stems) hay offered in a diet including lentil straw and concentrate during gestation, no control diet
300 g/animal/d; whole gestation |
300 g/d/anim. |
No particular negative effect except a possible early embryonic mortality observed, but this is not clear |
Zarkawi et al., 2003 |
| |
Black Bengal male (9 kg) |
Bangladesh |
Prickly sesban (leaves + twigs) as sole feed compared to road-side grass, 56 d |
ad libitum |
DMI and DMD of S. bispinosa were higher (229 vs 179 g/d and 62% vs 55%) |
Shahjalal et al., 2000 |
| |
Local breed |
Pakistan |
Basal diet (wheat straw and wheat bran, amount unknown) supplemented with prickly sesban |
unknown |
higher weight gain (12.4 vs 0 g/d); and DMD of the diet higher (58.2 vs 56.4%) |
Nizamani et al., 2013 |
| Sheeo |
Awassi ewe (62.3 kg) |
Syria |
Prickly sesban (leaves + stems) hay and barley replaces half straw and total commercial concentrate in a complete diet (28 - 29 % concentrate) for ewes fed from 2.5 months before mating until weaning |
|
No effect on body weight change, fertility, birth weight or weaning weight of the lambs; using S. bispinosa and barley can save commercial concentrate and reduces the cost of the diet |
Zarkawi et al., 2005 |
| |
Cameroon whethers (19.8 kg) |
Bangladesh |
Prickly sesban (leaves + stems) included into a diet based on wheat straw, 23 d |
10 or 20 %
|
Straw dry matter intake increased with 10 or 20 % from 42.5 g/kg BW-75 to 58 g/kg BW-75; OMD of the diet increased from 40.5% to 46-47.8 %; Only the 20 % level allowed 139 g/d weight gain compared to -84 and -23 g/d for 0 or 10% |
Khandaker et al., 1998 |
Dairy cattle
In India, low producing Desi dairy cattle could be fed on a mixture of prickly sesban and leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala) foliages as a protein source to supplement urea-treated-straw. It was shown that the animals had higher body weight gain and reproduction parameter than the control. There was no difference in milk yield (Alam et al., 2009).
Seeds
Prickly sesban seeds have been reported to have higher protein content than conventional grain legumes like chickpeas (Cicer arietinum), mung bean (Vigna radiata) or cowpea (Vigna unguiculata). Prickly sesban seeds have relatively high in vitro OM digestibility (72.3%) that is slightly lower than that of soybean seeds or faba seeds. The in sacco N degradability (58%) is lower than that of soybean seeds but higher that that of faba beans. Treatments like roasting, soaking, autoclaving had variable effects on antinutrionnal factors and on subsequent digestibility enhancement (Hossain et al., 2002a).
Soaked and ground seeds of prickly sesban could be included at 850 g/day as a protein source in a berseem hay ad libitum based diet of 13 month-old Haryana calves (150 kg BW) during 135 days. Calves consumed up to 2.88 kg DM/100 kg BW and they had 366 g daily weight gain with this ration (Nath et al., 1991; Nath et al., 1990).
