Nutritional evaluation of the leaves of Oxytenanthera abyssinica, Bambusa balcooa, Moringa oleifera, Terminalia catappa, Blighia sapida, and Mangifera indica as non-conventional green roughages for ruminants

Green roughages are the primary ruminant livestock feeds across a wide range of African farming systems; therefore, the nutritional profiling of some of these feeds is necessary as a first step to diversifying the ruminant feed basket. For this purpose, this study sought to evaluate the nutritive value of the leaves of Oxytenanthera abyssinica (OA), Bambusa balcooa (BB), Moringa oleifera (MO), Terminalia catappa (TC), Blighia sapida (BS) and Mangifera indica (MI) using three analytical methods; proximate analysis, detergent analysis and in vitro gas production. Other nutritional characteristics were estimated using their chemical compositions and in vitro gas production. The results showed that the leaves of MO recorded the highest (p