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Tropical legumes can improve animal performance by increasing forage intake and digestibility and also indirectly, by fixing nitrogen in the soil, thus improving yield and crude protein content of grasses grown in association (Broderick, 1995). In the tropics, shrub legumes have a potential use in small ruminant feeding systems. Shrubs generally out-yield herbaceous legume species, are more tolerant to adverse management conditions, and produce good quality forage even during long dry seasons (Lascano and Ávila, 2002). However, their evaluation as forage for small ruminants has been limited. Cratylia argéntea (Desv.) Kuntze (CA), Calliandra calothyrsus Meissner (CC) and Leucaena leucocephala (Lam. de Wit) (LL), are three potential tropical shrub legume species that need further evaluation as forage sources for sheep and goats. All three shrubs have previously been evaluated as supplements and in protein banks in ruminant grazing systems (Pamo et al., 2005; Espinoza et al., 1999; Sánchez and Garcia, 1998). However, there is limited information on the effect of the physical form of these shrubs on palatability, preference, and ingestive behavior of small ruminants. The objective of this study was to evaluate in three different experiments the selective consumption of CA, CC, and LL by lambs when offered: under grazing conditions in pastures with grass-legume associations, as legume hay when combined with grass hay, or as fresh-cut legume herbage for animals in confinement. Experiment 1 was conducted at the Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) located in the Municipality of Lajas. Shrub legumes CA, CC, and LL were planted initially in individual containers and later transplanted to a 53.5 x 48.3 m field with six 277.07 m subdivisions (N = 2 per legume) in association with tropical grasses (TG; mainly guinea-grass, Panicum maximum). In each paddock, shrubs were planted in double rows with a distance of 1.5 m between plants and 4 m between rows. Sixty plants of each legume species were planted per paddock for a total of 120 plants per shrub to be evaluated. The seeds of these legumes were not inoculated with N-fixing bacteria before planting. At 134 d post-transplanting, a grazing selectivity trial of 21-d duration was conducted using six plots of the tropical legumes in double rows and in association with TG. Before the grazing trial, three plants of each legume species and two of grasses were randomly collected from each experimental plot and analyzed

the journal of agriculture of the university of puerto rico/the journal of agriculture of the university of puerto rico

Effect of the physical form of the tropical legumes Cratylia argentea (Desv.) Kuntze, Calliandra calothyrsus Meisn., and Leucaena leucocephala (Lam. de Wit) on selective consumption by lambs