Moringa (Moringa oleifera) leaf meal as a source of protein in locally produced concentrates for dairy cows fed low protein diets in tropical areas

Potential of Moringa oleifera L. as livestock fodder crop: a review

“…Researchers (Richter et al 2003;Sanchez et al 2006;Mendieta-Araica et al 2011) have explored moringa cultivation practices and its utilization as livestock fodder and in fish diet. They have shown that this species has potential as livestock fodder.…”

“…Moreover, they also reported that better lysine contents are being provided by livestock products, like milk. However, in the case of raw and extracted moringa leaves, it is clear from various studies Becker 1996, 1997;Fuglie 1999Fuglie , 2000Foidl et al 2001;Ferreira et al 2008;Newton et al 2010;Mendieta-Araica et al 2011) that these are also a very good source of all amino acids, including lysine. Table 3 illustrates that moringa leaves exhibit a good amino acid score compared with milk and can fulfill the daily requirements of adults.…”

Safety and Efficacy of Moringa oleifera Lamarck (1785) — Therapeutic and Toxicological Properties

“…Presenting an apparent digestibility index similar to the standard diet, no changes were found in milk composition. On the other hand, cows fed with concentrated soybean meal produced more milk (13.2 kg/day), revealing better energy content in comparison with those that consume moringa meal (12.3 kg/day) [41]. In this event, the hypothesis that meal would influence organoleptic characteristics of milk are not corroborated, since the color, taste and smell remained unchanged, an encouraging finding for farmers who usually face problems with beef cattle undernutrition due to limitations in quality and/or quantity of the feed available.…”

“…The bitter taste in the seeds, important to provide its typical aroma, is alleviated by treatment [39], suggesting that its taste would not be a limiting factor for using them, since even cow's milk whose dairy cattle was treated with moringa meal did not reveal changes in quality [41]. Furthermore, it is known that most adverse effects are eliminated by suitable methods as washing, storage, drying and/or heating.…”

“…The text [129] showed that roasted seeds promote formation of mutagenic compounds [4-(alpha-L-rhamnosyloxy)phenylacetonitrile, 4 hydroxyphenylacetontrile and 4-hydroxyphenyl-acetamide). On the other hand, it was observed that moringa seed flour has post-treated proteins with good digestibility and absorption [39,41].…”