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Madre de cacao and ipil-ipil: Cheap feast for hungry sheep
by Rita T. de la Cruz |
January-March
2004
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| Madre de cacao |
Raising sheep, although not as common and as
popular as raising goats, in the Philippines has been gaining
the attention of smallhold raisers due to its manageability.
In most cases, sheep is considered more compatible than goats
by some farmers not only due to its profitability but because
it could easily be integrated in smallholder farms. Sheep
is less destructive to intercropped trees and food crops in
the farms and is more docile, easier to handle and more adapted
to existing local conditions.
Two of the most pressing problems now in sheep raising particularly
those smallholder raisers are the scarce feed supply and the
poor quality of available feed resources. This is particularly
true during the dry season where grasses are dry and feed
sources are in high demands. As a result, animal performance
becomes generally poor due to the low voluntary ingestion
of food and the lack of nutrients intake.
This problem prompted a group of scientists
from the Small Ruminant Center of the Central Luzon State
University (CLSU), Philippines and the Laboratory of Animal
Science of the Shimane University, Japan to introduce the
use of multi-purpose tree specie (MPTS) in livestock feeding.
According to their study, in order to achieve certain level
of livestock productivity, feeding strategies must be effective
enough to increase voluntary intake among sheep, to eventually
level up their performance.
Actually, the idea of introducing MPTS as alternative
to expensive concentrate feed is not new anymore in the field
of animal nutrition. It is just a matter of choosing which
among these tree species entices voluntary feeding among farm
animals while ensuring an improvement in their performance.
According to the two lead researchers, Drs. Edgar A. Oden
of CLSU and Toshiyoshi Ichinohe of Shimane University, tree
legumes like madre de cacao (Gliricidia sepium) and ipil ipil
(Leucaena leucocephala) provide high quality forage for animals
raised under various types of livestock farming systems. Moreover,
the forage from the MPTS are sources of protein-rich supplements
and have good digestibility ensuring optimum dry matter intake
that eventually could improve the productivity of animals
given the low quality feeds.
Madre de cacao is a nitrogen-fixing tree. In
some areas, it is referred to as a quick-stick due to its
characteristic of growing almost right away just by cutting
it and directly planting it in the ground. It is a fast growing
tree with a maturity height of 10 meters (33 feet). It is
adaptable to almost any soil environment, including infertile
soils. It is tolerant to salt spray and water logging. It
can tolerate drought for up to 6 to 8 months. This tree can
be potentially weedy, but rarely causes a problem. Its ubiquitous
characteristic makes it a good alternative for feeds due to
its availability in almost all areas in the country.
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| Ipil-ipil |
Ipil-ipil is widely regarded as one of the most
versatile of all tropical multipurpose trees because of its
exceptionally high rates of growth, ability to fix nitrogen,
relative disease- and pest- resistance, and high nutritional
value as food for livestock. More widely-known as the "leadtree,"
it is valued as an excellent protein source for cattle fodder,
consumed as grazed or harvested, mature or immature, green
or dry. The nutritive value is equal to or superior to alfalfa.
It has gained a favorable reputation in land reclamation,
erosion control, water conservation, reforestation and soil
improvement programs, and is a good cover and green manure
crop. The leaves, used as mulch around other crops significantly
increases farmers' yield.
To determine the effect of tree legumes in
the voluntary intake and level of performance, 24 native sheeps,
distributed in three treatments, were fed with ammoniated
rice straw supplemented with either ipil-ipil or madre de
cacao. The supplements accounted for 20% of the sheep's daily
matter intake. Results showed that while the consumption of
the ammoniated rice straw remained the same among the treatments,
the addition of ipil-ipil and madre de cacao increased the
total dry matter consumption of the sheep that eventually
resulted to higher level of performance and more efficient
feed utilization.
After 90 days of feeding the sheep, heavier
lambs were observed in the forage supplemented group. This
was mainly due to the efficient utilization of feeds. Drs.
Orden and Ichinobe emphasized that the faster outflow rate
of the forage increased the influx of digestible organic product
and microbial protein supply in the small intestine of the
sheep. This contributed to the higher consumption and better
growth performance in the sheep supplemented with ipil-ipil
and madre de cacao. 
Source: "Effects of Leucaena leucocephala
and Gliricidia sepium supplementation on outflow rate, microbial
protein yield and growth of sheep fed with ammoniated rice
straw" by Edgar A. Orden and Emilio M. Cruz of the Central
Luzon State University and Toshiyoshi Ichinobe and Tsutomu
Fujihara of the Shimane University.
Ipil-ipil photo: www.rspg.thaigov.net
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