Keir et al., 1997. Livest. Res. Rural Dev., 9 (4) article #35

The leaves from two trees - Trichantera gigantea and Artocarpus heterophyllus (Jackfruit) - were used as the basal diet of growing goat kids. The only supplement was a multi-nutrient block containing molasses, urea and minerals. The leaves and the block were fed ad libitum and refusals recorded daily. There were 6 goats in individual cages on each treatment. The design was a single changeover with periods of 21 days on each of the two treatments. The apparent dry matter digestibility was measured during the last 7 days of the second period by total collection of faeces.  Jackfruit leaves had a higher dry matter content (36%) than leaves of T. gigantea (11%).The intake of fresh leaves was 29% higher for the jackfruit diet compared with T. gigantea. On a dry matter basis the intake was 270% higher for jackfruit (50g DM/kg LWt) than for T. gigantea (9.8 g DM/kg LWt). Kids fed T. gigantea lost 70 g/day of liveweight; in contrast, the weight gain on jackfruit leaves was 70 g/day. Apparent dry matter digestibility was higher on the jackfruit diet (66%) than on T. gigantea (48%).  It is concluded that the leaves of the jackfruit tree have a high nutritive value for growing goats.