Resumo

CECCONELLO C, Gerardo; BENEZRA S, Miguel  e  OBISPO, Nestor E. Chemical composition and ruminal degradability of some woody legumes fruits of the tropical dry forest.. Zootecnia Trop. [online]. 2003, vol.21, n.2, pp.149-165. ISSN 0798-7269.

In a tropical dry forest, in the south area of the Aragua state in Venezuela and during the dry season, the native woody leguminous fruits, Chloroleucon manguense, Pithecellobium saman, Enterolobium cyclocarpum, Acacia macracantha, Senna atomaria, Caesalpinia granadillo and Caesalpinia coriaria, commodnly consumed by the ruminants were evaluated. To know their chemical and structural composition, and mineral contents, these fruits were divided up in entire fruit, seed and fruit without seed. Furthermore, ruminal degradability of the dry matter of different fractions was evaluated by means of the nylon bag technique. There was observed a great variation among species for PC and ELN contents in the entire fruits. C. manguense showed the higher PC (21%) value, while C. coriaria and C. granadillo the lowest (4%). PC contents of the seeds were located in a range between 16 and 29%, with the higher value for C. manguense. Similarly, values for FDN and FDA ranged from18 to 62%, and 13 to 41%, respectively. In both cases, the lowest values of these fractions were observed for C. coriaria fruit and the highest to S. atomaria. In all cases, the entire fruits showed higher degradabilidad than the fruits without seed, with the higher values for P. saman (62%) and E. cyclocarpum (81%) fruits. Ca. P Mg, Cu, and S contents on these fruits seem to be important to complement ruminant diets.

Palavras-chave : tropical dry forest; legumes; woody forages; chemical composition; degradability.