Planting from vegetative material - cgiar

Collecting legume leaf for cattle in
the Philippines. [JH]
32
A Question
4. Provide protein supplements
Most grasses do not have enough protein to support good
animal production. Protein supplements, such as peanut hay
and rice bran, may be available on farm. They can also be
bought as a mixed concentrate or as single products such
as fish meal. For smallholder farmers these protein sources
are often not available or too expensive. An alternative
source of protein on smallholder farms is forage legumes
which can be fed fresh or in dried form, as hay or leaf meal.
It is often recommended to feed ruminants a diet that
contains 10-30% legume leaf. While 30% is ideal, even small
quantities of legume leaf in the diet can give large
improvements in animal production. In the example (see the
following Figure on page 33) of feeding Gliricidia sepium
leaf to young bulls, adding 10% legume leaf to the diet had
a large effect, doubling liveweight gain. Adding more than
30% gave little extra benefit.
How much legume leaf should I feed to my animals?
10-30% legume in the diet can more than double
animal production.