Pule, Hosia T. ， Tjelele, Julius T. ， Hattas, Dawood ， Tedder, Michelle J.
2023-03-01 RANGELAND ECOLOGY & MANAGEMENT 2023 87(卷), null(期), (30-33页)
Strategies and mechanisms are needed to enhance encroaching shrub species use by ruminants. Seriphium plumosum crude proteins, neutral detergent fibers, total phenolics, and condensed tannins were determined from combined fine leaves and stems collected during the dry and wet seasons, from burned and unburned areas. S. plumosum crude protein was higher during the wet season on postburned areas. Neutral detergent fiber was higher during the dry season and similar in both postburned and unburned areas. The mean total phenolics and condensed tannins were higher during the dry and wet seasons, respectively. These results have shown that S. plumosum forage quality in the wet season is sufficient to meet ruminants nutrient requirements, but the opposite is true for the dry season; hence, the need to include it in livestock feed with other protein and energy supplements to improve its forage quality beyond ruminant maintenance requirement. (c) 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of The Society for Range Management. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)