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Haiti Reforestation - Acacia

Acacia saligna is the most successful species of Acacia due to its tolerance to drought, ability to grow in salty soil, higher production of green biomass, higher crude protein content and good nutritive value.

Acacia saligna appears to have a good potential as a fodder plant if lines of higher potential feeding value are selected. The phyllodes, young shoots, pods and seeds, whether fresh or dry, are protein-rich and non-toxic and palatable to both sheep and goats.

HUMAN FOOD:

Acacia saligna is one of the promising species in southern Australia as a source of seed for human food. The seeds had reportedly been consumed by Aborigines; they were probably ground into flour and eaten with pounded root bark from various eucalypts .

ANIMAL FOOD:

LAMBS:

This study indicates that feeding Awassi lambs on diets including up to 40% of the TDN requirements from acacia did counter act their feedlot performance. Therefore, the use of acacia tested in the current experiment can be recommended for use by local farmers for lamb production under North Sinai conditions which should reduce their cost of meat production. During the dry season acacia remain green and maintain a relatively high crude protein content and is commonly used as protein and energy supplements for small ruminants during this period. Acacia saligna shrubs showed a great potentiality as fodder for growing sheep under arid and saline conditions of Egyptian desert.
http://scialert.net/fulltext/?doi=ajas.2011.102.117&org=12

RABBITS:

The acute shortage of meat supply especially in Nigerian diets can be bridged by the production of highly prolific animals with short generation interval such as rabbits. The increase in the world population and high cost of conventional animal feed ingredients and low protein intake in most developing countries has necessitated Animal nutritionist to search for alternative sources of non-conventional feed ingredients that are cheap and readily available. Forages are cheap and can be used in rabbit diet since they utilize grasses and legumes efficiently. Optimum growth performance can be obtained by feeding forages with or without concentrates in their diets. Forages contain appreciable amount of protein, fat, minerals and carbohydrates that can support growth and production. The reviewed revealed that different forages inclusion levels from 30 to 100% enhance rabbit production and can help overcome the protein intake deficiency in the country. Therefore, the use of different forages for feeding rabbit is recommended.

This study was conducted to determine the utilization of Acacia saligna in feeding growing rabbits from the desert and newly reclaimed areas.

From the nutritional and economical efficiency viewpoints, Acacia leaf meal (ALM) could be used successively. It was safe for the formulation of a diet for weaning rabbits to include Acacia leaf meal up to 20% without adversely affecting their performance.

Sourced: www.cabdirect.org