Keopaseuht et al., 2004. Livest. Res. Rural Dev., 16 (5)

A study was made of different ways of offering two plant species (Stylosanthes guianensis CIAT 184 [ST] and Gliricidia sepium [GS]) to growing goats. The feeding methods were stripping the leaves from the plants and putting them in the feed trough (L), putting the foliage (leaves attached to stems) in the feed trough (T) or hanging it from a bar above the feed trough (H). The design was a 3*3 factorial arrangement for each foliage with 3 feeding methods and 3 periods of 14 days. In both plant species, leaves were higher in DM and lower in crude fibre and NDF than stems. Intake of leaves and of total foliage DM, and DM digestibility, were lower when only leaves were offered compared with offering the whole foliage. It is concluded that factors associated with eating behaviour and / or with components present in stems (or in leaves) could have been responsible for the lower values of DM intake and digestibility associated with feeding only the leaves as compared with feeding intact foliage in which the leaves are attached to the stems.