Rahman, M: Detanninification of Albizia procera Foliage

In situation of scant feed resources tree foliages can be the important source of forages to ruminants but the presence of deleterious compounds such as phenols can affect their utilization. It is found that there are no significant effects of soil types and seasons on DM, OM and CP contents in Albizia procera. Total phenols and total tannins contents is significantly varied between foliages grown in dry and wet seasons. Foliages grown in dry season contained high level of all types of phenols than that of wet season. Amelioration process for detanninification using polyethylene glycol (PEG), Calcium hydroxide [Ca(OH)2] and Potassium carbonate (K2CO3) significantly reduced all types of phenolic compounds. Amelioration process significantly increased in vitro gas production, OMD and ME content. Higher in vitro gas production, OMD and ME content is found in Albizia procera grown in wet season than of dry season. There is significant correlation between total phenolic compounds and in vitro gas production. It is appeared that tannins have effects on reduction of feed values that can be improved by amelioration process which would increase the utilization of Albizia procera foliage.