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BackgroundThis experiment aimed at assessing polyphenol-rich plant biomass to use in complete feed making for the feeding of ruminants.MethodsAn in vitro ruminal evaluation of complete blocks (CFB) with (Acacia nilotica, Ziziphus nummularia leaves) and without (Vigna sinensis hay) polyphenol rich plant leaves was conducted by applying Menke’s in vitro gas production (IVGP) technique. A total of six substrates, viz. three forages and three CFBs were subjected to in vitro ruminal fermentation in glass syringes to assess gas and methane production, substrate degradability, and rumen fermentation metabolites.ResultsTotal polyphenol content (g/Kg) was 163 in A. nilotica compared to 52.5 in Z. nummularia with a contrasting difference in tannin fractions, higher hydrolysable tannins (HT) in the former (140.1 vs 2.8) and higher condensed (CT) tannins in the later (28.3 vs 7.9). The potential gas production was lower with a higher lag phase (L) in CT containing Z. nummularia and the component feed block. A. nilotica alone and as a constituent of CFB produced higher total gas but with lower methane while the partitioning factor (PF) was higher in Z. nummularia and its CFB. Substrate digestibility (both DM and OM) was lower (P < 0.001) in Z. nummularia compared to other forages and CFBs. The fermentation metabolites showed a different pattern for forages and their CFBs. The forages showed higher TCA precipitable N and lower acetate: propionate ratio in Z. nummularia while the related trend was found in CFB with V. sinensis. Total volatile fatty acid concentration was higher (P < 0.001) in A. nilotica leaves than V. sinensis hay and Z. nummularia leaves. It has implication on widening the forage resources and providing opportunity to use forage biomass rich in polyphenolic constituents in judicious proportion for reducing methane and enhancing green livestock production.ConclusionAbove all, higher substrate degradability, propionate production, lower methanogenesis in CFB with A. nilotica leaves may be considered useful. Nevertheless, CFB with Z. nummularia also proved its usefulness with higher TCA precipitable N and PF. It has implication on widening the forage resources and providing opportunity to use polyphenol-rich forage biomass for reducing methane and enhancing green livestock production.

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Thirty lambs (Avishaan genotype, 10 weeks old, 14.0 ± 0.2 kg live weight) were randomly assigned into three equal treatment groups to study the effect of complete feed blocks (CFB; concentrate and roughage at 70:30 ratio) with three different tanniniferous tree leaves on intake and utilization of nutrients, rumen fermentation, microbial protein synthesis and growth performance. The treatments were T1 (Control), CFB1 with Vigna sinensis hay; T2, CFB2 with Acacia nilotica leaves rich in hydrolysable tannins (HT); and T3, CFB3 with Ziziphus nummularia leaves rich in condensed tannins (CT). The three CFBs were fed ad libitum to the respective groups of lambs for a period of 12 weeks. There was lower (p < .05) intake of dry matter (DM), total carbohydrates (TCHO) and fibre components in T2 compared with T1 and T3. However, the digestibility of nutrients except crude protein (CP) was higher in T2. Diet had no effect (p > .05) on the LW gain in lambs. Amongst the three groups, T3 showed enhanced N utilization with a comparable microbial protein synthesis, the lowest being in T2. The T2 group of lambs had higher propionate and lower non-glucogenic: glucogenic short-chain fatty acids ratio. It may be concluded that tanniniferous tree leaves at 30% of total mixed ration can meet the requirement of nutrients for desired post-weaning growth. K E Y W O R D Scomplete feed block, growth performance: lamb, nutrient utilization, tannin How to cite this article: Aderao GN, Sahoo A, Kumawat PK, Bhatt RS. Effect of complete feed block with tree leaves rich in hydrolysable and condensed tannins on nutrient utilization, rumen fermentation and growth performance of lambs.

Sapindus mukorossi, commonly called as soapnut, is an extremely valuable medicinal plant which possesses several biological and pharmacological properties. The present study was carried out to determine the phytochemical composition, saponin content, fatty acid profiles and in vitro assessment of antioxidant potential of soapnut shell powder (SSP) as a phytogenic feed additive for livestock and poultry feeding. The DM, CP, EE, CF, TA, Ca and P levels in SSP were 95.16, 5.01, 1.78, 2.21, 7.49, 0.24 and 0.41%, respectively. Total phenol (TP), non tannin phenols (NTP), total tannin (TT), condensed tannin (CT) and hydrolysable tannin (HT) levels in SSP were 1.43, 0.60, 0.83, 0.36 and 0.47%, respectively. The crude saponin extracted from SSP was 28.4% (DMB). SSP was composed of 68.8% saturated and 31.2% unsaturated fatty acids, respectively. The total antioxidant activity at the concentration 250 μg/ml of SSP was 57.16%. Thus, it could be concluded that SSP had high antioxidant activity which may be beneficial for livestock and poultry feeding.