Livestock Research for Rural Development 23 (5) 2011 Notes to Authors LRRD Newsletter

Citation of this paper

An evaluation of nutritive value of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes Mart. Solms-Laubach) harvested from different water sources as animal feed

A A Mako, O J Babayemi* and A O Akinsoyinu*

Department of Agricultural Production and Management Sciences
Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijagun. Ijebu-Ode
PMB, 2118, Ijebu-Ode. Ogun State, Nigeria.
Jokemako2006@yahoo.com
* Department of Animal Science
University of Ibadan

Abstract

One of the major problems of water ways in Nigeria is the rapid infestation of water hyacinth causing environmental hazard. Water hyacinth (WH), may be useful as sustaining feed source for livestock especially ruminants. The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential of water hyacinth (WH) for ruminant nutrition. The chemical composition and spot test analysis for saponin, tannin and steroids was determined. In vitro gas production of WH collected from different water sources (DWS) during dry season was carried out under a 24 h in vitro gas fermentation in order to estimate the Metabolizable energy (ME), Organic matter digestibility (OMD) and Short Chain Fatty Acids (SCFA). Methane production was estimated at 24 h post incubation.

 The crude protein, ether extract, and ash varied significantly (P<0.05) by different sources of WH. The CP varied from 10.3 to 10.4 g/100g DM. The dry matter, crude fibre, acid detergent fibre and neutral detergent fibre were not significantly affected by different water sources. Qualitative evaluation of the secondary metabolites showed that WH from all different water sources contained tannins and steroids; saponin was found but declared negative due to the qualitative method used. Plants from all DWS were rich in minerals.The cumulative gas produced at 24 h was 19.3, 18.2, 16.0 and 18.0 ml/200 mg DM for DWS 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively. The CH4 production differed significantly (p<0.05) with water source 2 recording the highest value of 5.0 ml and the lowest value 2.7 ml was recorded for water source 3. The ME, OMD and SCFA  also varied significantly (p<0.05) ranging from 5.0 to 5.5 MJ/Kg DM, 44.6 to 50.4 % and 0.437  to 0.522 umol respectively. The nutritive composition, secondary metabolites and in vitro gas production parameters showed a potentially high CP and energy available in water hyacinth, suggesting its possibility of being utilized for ruminant production in the tropics.

Key words: Composition, Eichhornia crassipes, in vitro gas production, secondary metabolites, water source


Introduction

Livestock in the tropics are still facing the challenges of poor nutrition, as the available crop residues or by-products are of low nutritive value (Babayemi et al 2004a). The grass is low in crude protein and insufficiently available during the dry season (Bamikole and Babayemi 2004).

One way to help alleviate this feed shortage would be the development of new technology for the utilization of aquatic plants as livestock feed. In Nigeria, water hyacinth is the most common and abundant specie of aquatic plants growing abundantly throughout the year in rivers, ponds, lakes, road side ditches, and low lying paddy fields, without agronomic care. Moreover, it does not compete with other agricultural useful vegetation for growing space. Due to its high reproductive rate, this plant frequently cause blockage of navigable waters and irrigation ditches. In this situation, the utilization of WH as feed for livestock may offset the cost of removal. The chemical composition of most aquatic plants suggests that they are acceptable animal feeds and that they have more minerals and protein (Mohammed et al 1983) and less fibre (Bailey 1965)  than most terrestrial forages on dry matter basis. Feeding trials had been conducted using WH to determine the nutritional properties (Khan et al 1981).

This study was undertaken to access the nutritive value of WH harvested during the dry season from different water sources, through the analysis of their nutrients and antinutrient components as well as their in vitro gas digestibility and gas potentials.

 
Materials and methods

Analysis of proximate components and fibre fractions

Twenty (20) stands each of fresh samples of water hyacinth was collected from different water sources (canal, lagoon, river and dam) in the month of February 2006. The samples were washed and the roots were cut off and discarded. The samples were oven dried at 100 0C until constant weight was obtained for dry matter determination. Also analysed were crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE) and Ash according to the conventional methods (AOAC 1990). Neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent fibre (ADF) and acid detergent lignin (ADL) were determined using the method described by Van Soest et al (1991).

Qualitative determination of saponin, phenols and steroids

Saponin, phenols and steroids were determined as reported by Babayemi et al (2004a). Briefly, 2g of dried samples were extracted with 30 ml of petroleum ether (PE) and 25 ml of methanol water (M/W, 9/1. V/V). The mixture was shaken at 250 revolutions per minute for 1hr.30mins, filtered and separated by a funnel. The lower (M/W) and upper (PE) layers were emptied in into 50ml volumetric flask. From the M/W fraction, 1,67 ml was dispensed into 9 ml distilled water, and out of it, 1 ml was taken to a test tube. The test tube was shaken for 30 seconds and left to stand for 15 mins. Saponin content was evaluated from the height of the foam layer as (< 5 mm) negligible, (5-9 mm) low, (10-14 mm) medium and (>15 mm) high. For phenol analysis, 1 ml from the M/W fraction was dispensed into five bottles with 1% FeCl3 added at different levels (0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1ml respectively).Phenol form complexes with ferric iron, resulting in a blue solution and hence, their presence was scored as : no phenol (no colour change), hydrolysable (dark blue) and condensed tannin (dark-green). For steroids, 10 ml from the PE fraction was evaporated in a water bath at 450C and 0.5ml chloroform, 0.25 ml acetic anhydride and 0.125 ml conc. H2S04 were added. The mixture was agitated briefly and the colour reaction was accessed being steroids (blue or green), triterpenoids (red, pink or purple) or saturated steroids (light yellow)

Analysis of minerals

A total of seven minerals was analysed. Plant parts were digested with HNO3 / HCIO3 mixtures (nitric acid and perchloric acid) (20:5 v/v). The digest was made up to 100 ml in standard volumetric flask with deionzed water. Ca, Na, K, Fe, Cu and Zn in the digest were determined with the atomic absorption spectrophotometer model 420. (Gallenkemp and Co. Ltd). Phosphorus in the digest was estimated with vanadomolybdate solution. The colour so developed was read with spectrophotometer at 420 m/u. 

In vitro gas production

Rumen fluid was obtained from three West African Dwarf female goats through suction tube before the morning feed. The animals were fed with wheat offal and guinea grass. Incubation was as reported (Menke and Steingass 1988) using 120 ml calibrated syringes in three batch incubation at 39 0C, into 200 mg samples in the syringes was introduced 30 ml inoculums containing cheese cloth strained rumen liquor and buffer (NaHC03 +  Na2HP04  + KCl + NaCl + MgS04. 7H20 + CaCl2.  2H20) (1:2, v/v) under continuous flushing with C02. The gas production was measured at 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21 and 24, after 24h of incubation, 4 ml of NaOH (10 M) was introduced to estimate the amount of methane produced. The average of the volume of gas produced from the blanks was deducted from the volume of gas produced per sample. The volume of gas produced at intervals was plotted against the incubation time, and from the graph, the gas production characteristics were estimated using the equation Y= a+b(1-e-ct) described by Orskov and McDonald (1979), where Y= volume of gas produced at time ‘t’, a = intercept (gas produced from insoluble fraction), c = gas production rate constant for the insoluble fraction (b), t = incubation time, metabolizable energy (ME, MJ /Kg DM ) and organic matter digestibility (OMD, %) were estimated as established (Menke and Steingass 1988) and short chain fatty acids (SCFA, umol) was calculated as reported (Getachew et al 1999)

ME = 2.20 + 0.136*GV + 0.057*CP + 0.0029*CF

OMD = 14.88 + 0.889GV + 0.45CP + 0.651XA

SCFA = 0.0239*GV – 0.0601

Where GV, CP, CF and XA are net gas productions (ml /200 mg DM), crude protein, crude fibre and ash of the incubated samples respectively.

Statistical analysis

Data obtained were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) and mean separations where there were significant differences was by Duncan multiple range F-test using statistical Analysis System (SAS 1987) package


Results

Presented in Table 1 is the chemical composition of water hyacinth collected from different water source (DWS) respectively. The dry matter (DM) ranged from 7.70 to 7.97 g /100 g DM in DWS 2 and DWS 3 respectively. The crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE) and Ash contents differ significantly (P<0.05), the highest values 10.4 (DWS 4), 1.66 (DWS 1 and 4) and 24.6 g /100 g DM (DWS 1) and the lowest values 10.3 (DWS 3), 1.65 (DWS 2 and 3) and 20.4 g /100 g DM (DWS 4) were recorded for CP, EE and Ash respectively. ADF and NDF did not differ significantly (P>0.05) ranging from 36.5 (DWS 2) to 39.7 g /100 g DM and 65.9 (DWS 1 and 4) to 77.9 g /100 g DM (DWS 3) respectively.

Table 1. Chemical composition (g /100 g DM) of WH collected from different water bodies

Parameters

 DWB

1

2

3

4

SEM

Dry matter

7.95

7.70

7.97

7.96

0.28

Crude protein

10.4a

10.4a

10.3b

10.4a

0.06

Crude fibre

18.7

18.7

18.7

18.6

0.12

Ether extract

  1.66a

  1.65b

  1.65b

  1.66a

0.001

Ash

24.6a

20.5b

20.5b

20.4c

0.002

Acid detergent fibre

39.7

36.5

36.6

36.7

0.21

Neutral detergent fibre

65.9

74.7

77.9

65.9

0.32

abcd  means on the same row with different subscripts differ significantly (P<0.05)      

 DWS1  canal, DWS 2  lagoon,  DWS 3 river, DWS 4  dam

Water hyacinth (WH) collected from various different water source (Table 2) showed the presence of condensed tannin and steroids. Although, the qualitative analysis for saponin was judged to be negative, indication for saponin presence was higher in WH collected from DWS 3 (river).

Table 2. Qualitative contents of Saponin, Phenols and Steroids in WH collected   from different water sources (DWS)

DWS

Saponin

Phenol

Steroid

Foam (mm)

Comment

Colour change

Comment

Colour change

Comment

1

2

Negative

Dark green

Con. Tan

Light green

Steroid

2

1

Negative

Dark green

Con. Tan

Light green

Steroid

3

3

Negative

Dark green

Con. Tan

Light green

Steroid

4

2

Negative

Dark green

Con. Tan

Light green

Steroid

Con. tan = condensed tannin; DWS 1 = canal, 2 = lagoon, 3 = river, 4 = dam

Macro and micro mineral concentration of the plant (Table 3) was not affected by the source of the plant; however, the plant contained mineral content that varied amongst the DWS. The Ca ranged from 0.64 to 0.66 g/100 DM and Fe ranged from 516 to 527 ppm.

Table 3. Macro and micro mineral content of water hyacinth

DWB

            g/100 g DM

                             ppm

Ca

P

K

Na

Mg

Fe

Zn

Cu

Mn

Pb

1

0.64

0.18

0.39

0.22

0.16

516

51.9

12.3

682

19.0

2

0.66

0.20

0.42

0.22

0.17

523

50.8

12.3

678

16.2

3

0.65

0.20

0.42

0.18

0.15

527

52.6

12.2

680

17.2

4

0.65

0.24

0.38

0.18

0.17

524

52.9

11.3

676

15.0

SEM

0.29

0.03

0.02

0.01

0.02

10.9

1.11

0.32

9.30

0.20

 DWS 1 = canal, DWS 2 = Lagoon,  DWS 3 = river, DWS 4

 Figure 1 shows the in vitro gas production pattern of WH from all DWS over a period of 24 hr. The total gas produced was highest (19.3 ml) from WH collected from DWS1 (canal) than observed in other DWS.  The lowest (16.0 ml) total gas was produced from WH collected from DWS 3 (river).

Figure 1: In vitro gas production from water hyacinth
collected from different water sources

The gas produced from insoluble fraction (b) and potential degradability (a+b) followed the same trend and differ significantly (P<0.05) among the different water source ranging from 15.7 to 12.1 and 19.3 to 15.8 respectively (Table 4).  The gas production rate (c) and the effective degradability (ED) were similar (P>0.05), however, highest value (9.44 ml) was recorded for ED in DWS 1, while the lowest (7.44 ml) was recorded for DWS 3.

Table 4. In vitro gas production characteristics of incubated water hyacinth (WH)

Production features

                     Different water bodies

1

2

3

4

SEM

b

15.7a

14.3a

12.1b

15.5a

0.72

a+b

19.3a

18.2a

15.8b

18.2a

0.67

c

0.050

0.043

0.049

0.051

0.007

ED

9.44

8.61

7.44

8.28

0.88.

a, b = means on the same row with different subscripts differ significantly (P<0.05)

b = insoluble degradable fraction, a+b = potential degradability, c = rate of degradation,

ED = Effective degradability, DWS1 = canal, 2 = lagoon, 3 = river, 4 = dam

Presented in Table 5 are metabolizable energy (ME), organic matter digestibility (OMD), short chain fatty acids (SCFA) and methane (CH4) production values of WH collected from different water source.  ME differ significantly (P<0.05) among the different water source, ranging from 5.03 (river) to 5.52 MJ / Kg DM (canal), OMD, SCFA and CH4 also differ significantly ranging from 44.6 (dam) to 50.4 % (canal), 0.437 (river) to 0.522 umol (canal) and 2.70 (river) to 5.00 ml (lagoon). It was observed that methane production was enhanced by WH collected from water source 2 (lagoon) than other water sources.

Table 5. In vitro gas production parameters of WH incubated for 24 hr

DWB

        Fermentation parameters                              

ME

OMD

SCFA

CH4

1

5.52a

50.4a

0.522a

4.50ab

2

5.38a

46.7b

0.496a

5.00a

3

5.03b

46.5b

0.437b

2.67c

4

5.36a

44.6c

0.494b

3.67b

SEM

0.10

0.10

0.02

0.34

a,b,c= means on the same column with different superscripts differ significantly (p<0.05) DWS 1= canal, DWS 2= lagoon, DWS 3 = river, DWS 4 = dam. ME=Metabolizable energy (MJ/ Kg DM), Organic matter digestibility (OMD%), Short chain fatty acid = (SCFA, umol) and Methane (CH4, ml)

Discussion

The variations observed in the nutrient composition of WH collected from different water source could be attributed to the difference in the nutrient concentration of the environment in which the plant is growing. Due to good nutrient profile, water hyacinth can be used to supplement the low nutrient value of tropical grasses. The amount of CP (10.42 %) obtained in this study is lower than the value of 12 – 16 % reported by Reza et al 1981. The level of CP was higher than the critical level of 7.0 g /100 g DM below which feed intake will be depressed (Minson 1990). The level of CP here also meets the protein requirement for ruminants which is 8 g /100 g DM (NRC 1981). The CP ranges were sufficiently high to warrant utilization of the plant as a source of protein supplement to low quality diet. The ash content was highest in DWS 1 which is canal, this high value obtained from this water body could be attributed to high rate at which effluents flow into it, however, the high ash content of WH from all DWS indicates that the plant will be a good source of minerals to ruminants. The NDF concentrations obtained from all the DWS are higher than the reported value of 55.00 – 60.00 g /100g DM that can limit the intake of forages (Meissner 1991)

Qualitative evaluation of some secondary metabolites did not implicate all WH for saponin content; however, judging by the trend of gas production, saponin content (3 mm height) obtained in DWS 3 (river) probably inhibited the micro organisms, thereby resulting in reduced gas production. The present observation is evident in the amount of CH4 produced, being lower in river than other water source, thus seemed suppressing methanogenesis (Teferedgene 2000). Saponin has been identified as the active compound in suppression of methanogenesis (Hess et al 2003). The low content of saponin in all the WH is advantageous, high saponin alone would retard feed intake of ruminants (Onwuka 1990). The tannin content present in all WH is also an added advantage as a natural additive in the diet of ruminants. Tannin form complexes with protein in the rumen as protection against massive proteolysis, thereby diminishing rumen protein digestibility (Barry and McNabb 1999).

Macro and micro mineral contents of WH from all the DWS is within the recommended requirements for grazing animals (NRC 1981). This is an indication that WH will supply the mineral requirements for animals. The macro and micro mineral content of WH are higher than the conventional forages which are in well agreement with other results. The results obtained in this study for Fe, Mn and Zn were comparable to the findings of Grandi 1981 and Lizama et al 1989.  Gas production is a nutritionally wasteful product (Maurico et al 1999), but provides a useful basis from which ME, OMD and SCFA could be estimated. Low production of gas from all WH could infer an increased production of propionate and decrease in acetate and butyrate production (Babayemi et al 2004b). ME and OMD obtained in this study are higher than the value of 5.22 MJ / Kg DM and 49.9 % reported by Khan et al 2002. The high SCFA obtained from all WH in this study is an added advantage as this is an indication that energy is present in the WH.


Conclusions


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Received 10 August 2010; Accepted 19 March 2011; Published 1 May 2011

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