CHEMICAL EVALUATION AND UTILIZATION OF MISTLETOES FROM SELECTED MULTIPURPOSE TREE SPECIES (MPTS) IN SEMI ARID ENVIRONMENT OF NIGERIA

Abstract

ABSTRACT The study evaluated the chemical composition and utilization of mistletoes as livestock feed. Random sampling procedure was applied to arrive at one hundred farmers in the study area. The study was conducted in two phases. The first phase was a field survey in which structured questionnaire was used to collect data while the second phase was a laboratory analysis in which samples were collected and analyzed for proximate components, minerals composition and anti nutritional factors. Data obtained from phase I was subjected descriptive statistics while that of phase II was analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) in a completely randomized design (CRD). Results obtained shows that 89% of the respondents reported that mistletoes is moderately available, while all the respondents (100%) indicated that it is available during all seasons of the year. Significant (P<0.05) differences were observed between treatments in dry matter, crude protein, ether extract, ash, NFE, energy, sodium, potassium, calcium, cromium and alkaloids. No significant (P>0.05) difference was observed in phosphorus, magnesium, iron, cupper, zinc, manganese, saponin, tannin, phytate and oxalate. The study concluded that mistletoes parasitizing on Faidherbia albida was found to contained lower tannin content (131.41mg/100g) and higher (16.94%) crude protein. ABSTRACT The study evaluated the chemical composition and utilization of mistletoes as livestock feed. Random sampling procedure was applied to arrive at one hundred farmers in the study area. The study was conducted in two phases. The first phase was a field survey in which structured questionnaire was used to collect data while the second phase was a laboratory analysis in which samples were collected and analyzed for proximate components, minerals composition and anti nutritional factors. Data obtained from phase I was subjected descriptive statistics while that of phase II was analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) in a completely randomized design (CRD). Results obtained shows that 89% of the respondents reported that mistletoes is moderately available, while all the respondents (100%) indicated that it is available during all seasons of the year. Significant (P<0.05) differences were observed between treatments in dry matter, crude protein, ether extract, ash, NFE, energy, sodium, potassium, calcium, cromium and alkaloids. No significant (P>0.05) difference was observed in phosphorus, magnesium, iron, cupper, zinc, manganese, saponin, tannin, phytate and oxalate. The study concluded that mistletoes parasitizing on Faidherbia albida was found to contained lower tannin content (131.41mg/100g) and higher (16.94%) crude protein.