NUTRITIONAL PROFILES OF PROCESSED Spondias mombin FOLIAGE AND PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSE OF RUMEN MICROORGANISMS TO THE EXTRACTS

Spondias mombin foliage was processed into fresh (as control), air-dried and sun-dried samples and were analyzed for proximate, fibre, minerals, vitamins and antinutrients. Also, Identified rumen microorganisms were exposed to non-reconstituted ethanol extract of the foliage. The results showed that crude protein, crude fibre and gross energy were greatly improved by drying from 4.9% to 15.1%, 2.1% to 18.4% and 0.9 kcal/g to 2.9kcal/g in that order. Fibre constituents improved from 11.5% to 67.9%, 7.2% to 53.6% and 2.9% to 9.3% for neutral detergent fibre, acid detergent fibre and acid detergent lignin. Similarly, all the mineral components were improved from 0.083% to 0.21%, 0.193% to 0.533% and 0.073% to 0.23% for Calcium, Phosphorus and Sodium respectively by drying. Drying decreased the Ascorbic acid, Riboflavin and Niacin contents from 27.8mg/100g to 9.1mg/100g, 0.083mg/100g to 0.033mg/100g and 0.323mg/100g to 0.143mg/100g in that arrangement. Above all, it was observed that drying tremendously improved the nutritional value of S. mombin foliage by reducing tannin from 2.2% to 1.64%, oxalic acid (2.1% to 1.38%), phytic acid (1.15 to 0.45%), saponin (1.18% to 0.72%) and trypsin inhibitor from 39.74% to 16.57%. However, drying did not influence the toxic potential of the foliage as indicated by susceptibility of all the rumen microorganisms except the mould species. The nutritional quality potentials observed in the present study suggested that S. mombin foliage may be efficiently utilized by ruminants for optimal performance.