Effect of Sprouted Corn Grains on Leucaena Tree Pruning and Olive Tree Pruning Diets for Desert Goats Under Sinai Conditions

INTRODUCTION

Small ruminant production is the main source of income of farmers living in the arid and semi-arid regions. These areas are characterized by low and erratic rainfall resulting in water scarcity leading to a low fodder potential. (Nefzaoui et al., 2012). Utilization of salt-tolerant plants as animal feeds in salt affected lands could be an appropriate option for alleviating the desertification problems and providing alternative good feed resources particularly in summer and autumn seasons when the other conventional forage resources are shortage (El Shaer, 2010). Leucaena leucocephala (leucaena) is a small, leguminous and native to tropics; this plants reproductive capacity is extremely strong, it is possible to produce 10–22 tons of edible dry matter (DM)/ha from leucaena (Palmer et al., 2010). Small holder farmers in the tropics often feed cut Leucaena leucocephala as chopped forage or as whole branches to penned goats. The potential attributes of leucaena are severely limited because of the presence of toxic mimosine, which have depilatory effect and cause enlarged thyroid and several other toxic effects in ruminants as well as non-ruminants (Ram et al., 1994).

Large areas are cultivated by olive trees, especially in Sinai and the North-Western Coast Zone, therefore, there are great amounts of olive by-products without beneficial usage and are considered as wastes. It has been estimated that each olive tree could produce 22 kg leaves and twigs per year and 25 kg olive cake per 100 kg olive fruits according to Nefzaoui (1995), who added that using olive trees by-products as animal feed could participate in solving the problems of feed shortage which is particularly realized at drought seasons and hence the selling price of animals products. Chemical composition is varied as a consequence of pruning severity, but always the fiber and lignin content is high and crude protein content is low. Olive pruning are distributed as fresh in many countries, but the low nutritive value of this by-product involves a low digestibility coefficient (Alibes and Berge, 1983).

New sprouts technique can be used for green fodder production of many forage crops for production of fresh forage from oats, barley, corn, wheat and other grains (Rodriguez-Muela et al., 2004). It is a well-known technique for high fodder yield, year round production and least water consumption (Fazaeli et al., 2012). Sprouts fodder production requires only about 2-3% of that water used under field conditions to produce the same amount of fodder (Al-Karaki, 2010). Germination and sprouting activate enzymes that change the starch, protein, and lipids of the grain into simpler forms, for example, starch changes to sugars. There are some arguments about the sprouting grains for convenience of green forage production in sprouting system to compensate the feed resources for animals (Tudor et al., 2003). This technology may be especially important in the regions where forage production is limited (Bustos et al., 2000).

This paper reports on updated a new sprouted technique with planting white corn grains onleucaena and olive tree pruning as media to produce green fodder in dry seasons which revealed improvement in palatability and feeding value ofgreen fodder that fed to goats and study their effects on digestibility, some rumen and blood parameters in the arid and semi-arid regions.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The field study was carried out at South Sinai Research Station located at Ras Sudr city, Desert Research Center (DRC) in South Sinai governorate, Egypt.

Plant Material

Two salt-tolerant plants were separately cultivated in the salt-affected soil of the Research Station Farm and irrigated with underground saline water. They were namely: leucaena(Leucaena leucocephala) and olive (Olea europaea).Leucaena and olive were pruning contribution of leaf, green stem, bark and inedible stem on branches different basal diameters (0.5-1.5 cm) with heights of approximately1.0-1.5 m and mechanically chopped into small pieces then air-dried for 15 days to reach 10-15% moisture then packed till used as bedding media.

Sprouting System

Production method for grains sprouts was tray method as described by Mohammadi et al. (2007) using about 10 cm thick layer of chopped dried output pruning of Leucaena and olive trees as a sprouting media. Cereal grains of local white corn (Zea Mays L.) were cleaned from debris and other foreign materials. Then the cleaned seeds were surface sterilized by soaking for 30 minutes in a 2% sodium hypochlorite solution to prevent the formation of mould. Planting trays and the growing cabinet also were cleaned and disinfected. The seeds were washed well from residues of bleach and re-soaked in tap water overnight (about 12 hours) before sowing. At the end of soaking period, soaked seeds were spread evenly on the top ofdriedoutput pruning of leucaena and olive media. Germination period on the media surface lasted about 15 days to get shoot sprouts, shoot length was 20-23 cm, seeding rate used in this experiment was about 10% density of roughage. Planting trays were irrigated with tap water once a day early in the morning to provide enough water to keep the seeds/ seedlings moist.

Feeding Trial

Twenty five desert male goats (21 months old) with average 23.42 ±0.91kg live body weight and fed free in feedlot. The animals were randomly divided into five groups of (5 animals each) and fed one of following treatments:

T1: Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) hay (control).
T2: Unsprouted leucaena trees pruning (Leucaena leucocephala) (LTP).
T3: Unsprouted olive trees pruning (Olea europaea) (OTP).
T4: Sprouted pruning leucaena trees (Leucaena leucocephala) (SLTP).
T5: Sprouted pruning olive trees (Olea europaea) (SOTP).

All goats were housed in individual shaded pens and fed on nutritious unsprouted/or sprouts green fodder (SGF) with concentrate feed mixture (CFM) to cover 20 % of their maintenance requirements (according to the recommendations of Kearl, (1982). Concentrate feed mixture contained: 94.28 DM, 91.07 OM, 14.13 CP, 7.01 CF, 2.01 EE, 8.93 Ash, 67.88 NFE, 17.39 GE, MJ/kg DM, 62.34 NDF, 9.57 ADF, 52.77 hemicellulose, 37.66 C.CHO, 0.150 sodium and 0.170 potassium (as % DM basis). Drinking water was available to the animals.

Metabolism Trial

At the end of the experimental feeding trial four animals from each group were randomly selected for the metabolism trial, fifteen day adaptation period followed by 5 days collection period. During the collection period, fecal and urine samples were collected daily (10% by weight of daily samples). Daily water intake was calculated and recorded. Combined water was calculated as Fresh-Dry diet ml/kg BW. Metabolic water was calculated from TDN intake a yield of 0.6 gm water per gm TDN (Farid et al., 1986). At the end of collection period of the metabolism trial, rumen, liquor was sampled by stomach tube at 0, 3, 6 hours after feeding; blood samples were taken from jugular vein after feeding.

Analytical Methods

Chemical composition of feeds residues, faeces and urine were determined according to the A.O.A.C. (1997). Fiber fraction (NDF and ADF) were determined according to Goering and Van Soest (1970). Rumen total volatile fatty acids (TVFA's) were tested (Warner, 1964) and ammonia nitrogen values were also evaluated (A.O.A.C. 1997). Sodium (Na) and potassium (K) were determined in feed, refusal, feces, urine and drinking water by using the standard flame photometry (Jackson, 1958). Blood serum samples were assayed for total protein (Armstrong and Carr 1964) and albumin (Doumas et al. 1971). Globulin was obtained by substracting the albumin values from the total proteins values. Serum creatinine (Henry, 1965) and urea (Patton and Crouch, 1977) were determined too. All blood serum analysis was measured using Jenway spectrophotometer (UK) and using Statistical analysis.

General linear model procedure was used for statistical analysis through SAS (1998). The used design was one way analysis differences in mean values between groups were compared by Duncan's multiple Range tests (1955).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Chemical Composition

As shown in Table 1 dried leucaena trees pruning (T2) and olive trees pruning (T3) had lower contents of CP, ash, NFE, C.CHO, sodium and potassium, with higher contents of CF, NDF, ADF and hemicellulose compared with that of alfalfa hay (T1). On the other hand, CP, ash, EE, C.CHO, sodium and potassium content was higher; while, OM, CF, NDF, ADF and hemicellulose contents were lower in sprouted than unsprouted leucaena and olive trees pruning. This finding may be attributed to increase of the activity of sprouted corn hydrolytic enzymes which catabolized starch to soluble sugars for use in respiration and cell-wall synthesis during the germination and early stage of plant growing and lead to improvements in chemical composition of leucaena and olive trees pruning (Chavan and Kadam, 1989). Meanwhile, sprouted leucaena tree pruning (SLTP) had higher CP, CF, Ash, NDF, ADF, hemicellulose and GE but lower EE, NFE and C.CHO contents than sprouted olive trees pruning (SOTP).

Results in Table 1 also, revealed that sprouting corn grains on leucaena tree pruning as a media had increased CP content from 9.49 to 12.93%; EE from 2.17 to 2.66%; C.CHO from 30.43 to 36.28 and ash from 9.49 to 21.09%, and decreased CF from 34.07 to 24.50%; NFE from 44.78 to 38.85%; and GE from 17.50 to 15.59%. On the other hand, sprouting corn seeds on olive tree pruning (SOTP) as a media had improved CP content from 6.50 to 9.97%, EE from 3.05 to 4.04%; C.CHO from 25.80 to 45.21, ash content from 13.66 to 13.82% NFE from 28.92 to 54.47% sodium from 0.05 to 0.13% and potassium from 0.09 to 0.10% while decreased CF from 24.75 to 17.70%. The results are in conformity with Fazaeli et al. (2012), who reported that CP content was increased from 14.32 to 20.04 % in hydroponically barley fodder. Also, Al-Ajmi et al. (2009) found about 14% increase of CP in hydroponically barley green fodder. But, Snow et al. (2008) reported a higher CP content (16.13%), in hydroponically barley fodder and the CP contents could be affected by the cultivation conditions in hydroponic systems. Moreover; Sneath and McIntosh (2003), evaluated the composition of sprouted barley and reported that the CP ranged from 11.38 to 24 percent; however, protein content may be influenced as a result of the nitrogen supplementation and other nutrients changes in sprouting grains. Moreover, Lorenz (1980) stated that the sprouting of grains causes increased enzyme activity, a loss of total DM, an increase in total protein, a change in amino acid composition, a decrease in starch, increases in sugars, a slight increase in crude fat and crude fiber, and slightly higher amounts of certain vitamins and minerals. Most of the increases in nutrients are not true increases; they simply reflect the loss of DM, mainly in the form of carbohydrates, due to respiration during sprouting. As total carbohydrates decreases, the percentage of other nutrients increases. The increase in EE could be due to the production of chlorophyll associated with plant growth (Mayer and Poljakoff-Mayber 1975). Generally, changes affected the proportion of the other nutrients such as protein that could be shown a higher percentage (Morgan et al., 1992).

Table 1: Chemical analysis and cell wall constituents of feed ingredients (on DM basis)

Effect of Sprouted Corn Grains on Leucaena Tree Pruning and Olive Tree Pruning Diets for Desert Goats Under Sinai Conditions - Image 1

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Gross energy: MJ/kg DM = (CP * 0.0226 + EE * 0.0407 + CF * 0.0192 + NFE * 0.0177) (MAFF, 1982), NFE: nitrogen free extract, NDF: natural detergent fiber, ADF: acid detergent fiber, ^* (C.CHO): converted carbohydrates calculated (NDF-100), GE: gross energy, alfalfa: Medicago sativa, LTP: unsprouted leucaena tree pruning (Leucaena leucocephala), OTP: unsprouted olive tree pruning, SLTP: sprouted leucaena tree pruning (Leucaena leucocephala), SOTP: sprouted olive tree pruning.

Digestibility Coefficients and Nutritive Values

Feed Intake and Digestion Coefficient

Feed intake, digestion coefficients and nutritive values are presented in Table 2. It is clear that total dry matter intake (g/ kg BW) revealed significant (P≤0.05) differences. Goats fed the alfalfa hay (T1) recorded the highest total dry matter intake (TDMI) of CFM and roughage compared with other four treatments. However, sprouted leucaena tree pruning (SLTP) and Sprouted olive tree pruning (SOTP) had higher (P≤0.05) TDMI than unsprouted (LTP) and (OTP).It may be attributed to increasing palatability of sprouted roughages than unsprouted; the results are also in conformity with Fayed (2011) and Fazaeli et al. (2011), Who reported that the animals that had received the control diet (barley grains) had higher (P≤0.05) dry matter intake than those fed sprouted barley green fodder.

Data obtained from the digestible trial (Table 2) revealed that goats fed T1 (alfalfa hay) recorded the highest (P≤0.05) values of DM, OM, CP, EE, NFE, NDF and ADF digestibility coefficients comparable with the two untreated roughages (LTP and OTP); while, there were no significant differences between goats fed T1 and those fed T2 (LTP) in CF, hemicellulose and C.CHO digestibility coefficients.

Goats fed sprouted treatments (T4 and T5) clearly recorded higher (P≤0.05) digestibility coefficients of CP, CF, EE, NFE, NDF, ADL, hemicellulose and C.CHO than unsprouted treatments (T2 and T3).

Treatment groups performed as well as control group; which may be attributed to fresh grains sprouts have been reported to have highly soluble protein and amino acids in response to the enzymatic transformations during early plant growth (Dikshit and Ghadle, 2003) and increase in the bioactive catalysts which assist in the digestion and metabolism of feeds and the release of energy (Shipard, 2005). Fayed (2011) summarized that feeding sprouted grains provided animals with living feed which has a rich supply of enzymes which results in all nutritional components being highly digestible and extremely nutritious.

When the nutritive values expressed as TDN g/kg B.W and DCP g/kg B.W or DCP%, a significant differences (P≤0.05) was detected among groups. It was higher in animals fed T4 (38.13) and T1 (37.01) followed byT5, T2 and the lowest value was obtained from goats fed T3. Highest DCP g/kg B.W (5.25) and DCP% (11.84) were recorded by T4 compared with other rations; while the lowest values of DCP g/kg B.W (1.67) and DCP% (4.01) were recorded by T3. Results are in the same trend with those found by (Fayed, 2011 and Helal, 2012), they recorded that nutritive values are improved when sprouted barley on dried Acacia saligna, Tamarix manniferaor rice straw as a media were higher than those for untreated roughages.

Generally, digestibility coefficients of all nutrients were significantly (P≤0.05) higher in sprouted roughages SLTP (T4) compared with other groups and increased total digestible nutrients (TDN g/kg B.W), digestible crude protein (DCP %) than that of untreated and treated OTP respectively.

Table 2: Average daily feed intake, digestion coefficient and nutritive value of goats fed the Sprouted fodder

Effect of Sprouted Corn Grains on Leucaena Tree Pruning and Olive Tree Pruning Diets for Desert Goats Under Sinai Conditions - Image 3

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T1: berceem alfalfa (control ad-lib); T2: dried untreated leucaena tree pruning ad-lib (LTP) as control; T3: dried untreated olive tree pruning (OTP) as control; T4: sprouted white corn grains on dried leucaena tree pruning ad-lib (SLTP); T5: sprouted white corn grains on dried olive tree pruning (SOTP). a, b,c:means with different superscripts in the same row differ significantly (P≤0.05), otherwise no differences were detected.

Nitrogen Utilization and Minerals Balance

As shown in Table 3 nitrogen intake (NI g/kg B.W) was significantly (P≤0.05) higher in T1 (1175.27) followed by T4 (1158.62) while the lowest was recorded for T3 (392.52). The higher nitrogen intake may be due to high content of crude protein in alfalfa hay and sprouted luceana (SLTP). Goats fed T1 had more (P≤0.05) nitrogen in feces and urine while goats fed T3 had lower (P≤0.05) amounts of total nitrogen excretion compared with other groups. Goats fed SLTP retained higher (P≤0.05) nitrogen than the other treatments. Digested nitrogen was higher in groups fed T1 and T4 with no significant differences. This finding may be related to higher improvement in CP intake and its digestibility in sprouted luceana (SLTP) compared with other experimental roughages. Similar results were reported by Fayed (2011).

Data on sodium (Na⁺) and potassium (K⁺) utilization revealed that Na⁺ intake; excretion and balance (g/kg BW) were significantly (P≤0.05) different among experimental groups. Highest (P≤0.05) values of Na⁺ and K⁺ intake and excretion were for T1 as compared with other groups. However, highest values of Na⁺ and K⁺ balance (g/kg BW) were recorded by goats fed T4 compared with other groups. Sprouted roots absorb nutrients from the media for the continued growth and life, which leads to reduced organic matter of the media with increase the mineral; Also, Morgan et al. (1992)found that ash content of sprouts increased from 2.1 in original seed (barley) to 5.3 at 8 day with increasing trace minerals. Meanwhile, Sneath and McIntosh (2003) found that Ca, P, K and Mg respectively ranged 0.07-0.13, 0.30-0.31, 0.48-0.60 and 0.12 to 0.40 percent; Fe, Zn, Mn and Cu ranged 81-168, 21-34, 21-27 and 6-11mg/kg, respectively in hydroponic barley fodder.

Table 3: Nitrogen utilization and mineral balance goats fed the Sprouted fodder

Effect of Sprouted Corn Grains on Leucaena Tree Pruning and Olive Tree Pruning Diets for Desert Goats Under Sinai Conditions - Image 5

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Water Balance

Data of Table 4 showed that water intakes (in terms of drinking, combined and metabolic water) were varied (p≤0.05) among goats groups. Water intake was (P≤0.05) higher in goats fed T1 compared with the other four groups; however, goats in T2, T3, T4 and T5 tended to consume comparable amounts of water without significant differences. The highest amount of total water consumption was recorded (342.32 ml/kg/BW) for goats fed T1 compared with other groups. May be due to increasing of dry matter intake (Table 2) and high content of sodium and potassium (Table 3) in alfalfa fed to goats in T1. While there were no significant differences in total consumption of water among other groups. These results are in conformity with Bhatti et al. (2009). On the other hand, goats fed T1 had the highest significant total water excreted (189.22) compared with the other sprouted groups that had not significant differences between them. These findings are in agreement with Eid (2003) and Allam et al. (2006) on animals fed similar dietary rations; they reported that feeding animals' salt tolerant fodders of high ash content push animals to increase excretion of urine. Water balance was higher (P≤ 0.05) in T1 (153.20) followed by T4 (52.32) while; the lowest values were recorded by T3 (32.63) which mainly me be attributed to the pattern of water consumption and total water intake (Eid, 2003 and Allam et al., 2006).

Table 4: Water balance (ml/kg/BW) of goats fed the Sprouted fodders

Effect of Sprouted Corn Grains on Leucaena Tree Pruning and Olive Tree Pruning Diets for Desert Goats Under Sinai Conditions - Image 7

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Rumen Parameters

Data of rumen total volatile fatty acids (TVFA,s) and ammonia-nitrogen are given in Table 5. Rumen total volatile fatty acids (TVFA,s) revealed that concentrations of VFA,s increased after feeding and reaches its peak 3 hr. post feeding (Fayed, 2009). There was a significant (P≤ 0.05) increase in overall total volatile fatty acids (TVFA,s) concentrations; where animals in T4 showed the greatest values being (10.83 meq/100 ml); while, the lowest concentration was recorded for T3 (7.27 meq/100 ml). It might be a reflection to rich energy and organic matter of fodder fed to small ruminants that provided higher concentrations of rumen metabolites which naturally improved rumen function and digestibility (Bonsi et al.,1995).

The increase in TVFA,s concentration with sprouted barley may be due to that sprouts provide a good supply of vitamins, enzymes which serve as bioactive catalysts to assist in metabolism of feed and the release of energy (Shipard 2005; Fayed, 2011 and Helal, 2012).

Goats in T1 and T4 recorded the highest insignificant overall ammonia-nitrogen value (31.84 and 31.82 mg/100 ml) compared to the other experimental groups. This is may be due to high content of CP and CP intake inT1 and T4 (Table 1) fed to animals in these groups (Norton, 2003). Other researchers reported an increase in rumen ammonia N with increase in CP supplementation (Bohnert et al., 2002 and Salisbury et al., 2004). Additionally, the total ammonia concentration was higher (P≤0.001) for the fresh barley sprouts supplements than for the barley grains and control poor quality roughage (Dung et al., 2010). On the other hand, Hassan (2009) found that ruminal microbial protein synthesis requires an adequate supply of nitrogen to achieve maximum efficiency.

Table 5: Ammonia-nitrogen and total volatile fatty acids of goats fed the Sprouted fodders

Effect of Sprouted Corn Grains on Leucaena Tree Pruning and Olive Tree Pruning Diets for Desert Goats Under Sinai Conditions - Image 9

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^* (TVFA,S); Total volatile acids meq/100ml.; *(NH3-N); Ammonia nitrogen mg/100ml.. T1: berceem alfalfa (control ad-lib); T2: dried untreated leucaena tree pruning ad-lib (LTP) as control; T3: dried untreated olive tree pruning (OTP) as control; T4: sprouted white corn grains on dried leucaena tree pruning ad- lib (SLTP); T5: sprouted white corn grains on dried olive tree pruning (SOTP). a, b,c:means with different superscripts in the same row differ significantly (P≤0.05), otherwise no differences were detected.

Blood Parameters

Serum urea-N, creatinine, total proteins, albumin, globulin, AST, cholesterol and potassium were significantly higher in goats fed T4 compared with other treatments. The high level of globulin of sprouted seeds treatments may indicate good developed immunity status (Ibrahim et al., 2001). This is in accordance with the results reported by Kumar et al. (1980) who found a positive correlation between dietary protein and plasma protein concentration. This was probably due to the high level of CP content in T4. The lowest value of serum urea and creatinine were recorded by T3. These results are in harmony with those reported by Fayed (2011). Additionally, Elisabetta et al. (2009) induced that integration with hydroponically germinating oat in partial substitution of the complete feed does not modify biochemical and hematological parameters and seems to produce an improvement in animal.

Serum minerals revealed that goats fed T1 had highest (P≤0.05) values of Sodium (mg/dl) being 148.78 as compared with other studied groups (Table 6). On the other hand, serum potassium concentration of goats fed T1 revealed similar insignificant values of sprouted roughages (T3 and T4). Similar results are in the same trend with those found by El-Essawy et al. (2011).

Table 6: Blood metabolites changes of goats fed the Sprouted fodders

Effect of Sprouted Corn Grains on Leucaena Tree Pruning and Olive Tree Pruning Diets for Desert Goats Under Sinai Conditions - Image 11

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CONCLUSION

It could be concluded that we can produce green fodder as alfalfa hay replacer especially in dry season by sprouting white corn grains on roughages like leucaena leucocephala and olive tree pruning as a media to produce green fodder with high nutritive value for the animals and environment-friendly as well as to reduce the cost of feeding by utilizing dried desert with simple methodology using crop sprouts and employ to produce forage feed instead of causing pollution.

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