Nutritional Assessment of Setaria sphacelata and Cleome gynandra as Potential for Ruminant Feed

Abstract

Setaria sphacelata is a high and most prevalent tropical grass, while Cleome gynandra is a tropical annual herb which commonly used as vegetables in Africa and Asia. Both plant samples were found to be high in nutritive value especially in protein and very appetizing in ruminants. The main objectives of the study were to measure and compare the nutritional composition of Setaria sphacelata and Cleome gynandra as a function of their nutritional value for ruminants. The two plant samples were collected near the Tembila area, Besut Terengganu. The samples were dried in a furnace below 60 - 70 ˚C and crushed prior to further analysis using proximate analysis. Proximate analysis was used to measure values for moisture, dry matter (DM), ash, crude protein (CP), crude fibre (CF), ether extract (EF) and nitrogen-free extract (NFE). The result of this analysis shows that Cleome gynandra had much higher crude protein (CP) (p < 0.05) at 36.86% and ether extract (EF) at 5.50%. Crude protein (CP) is one of the most essential nutrients that ruminants need. Therefore, this study found that Cleome gynandra contains a higher nutritional value in terms of crude protein (CP) than Setaria sphacelate, which can be used as a feed for ruminants.