Balanites aegyptiaca (L.) Delile leaves nutritional value for local Mossi sheep in Burkina Faso

Across Sahel area of Burkina Faso, feeding small ruminants is a constant preoccupation of livestock farmers, especially during the dry season. This fact has led farmers to increasingly use fodder trees such as Balanites aegyptiaca . The present study was conducted to better understand the Balanites aegyptiaca fodder nutritive value in the hot dry season at Saria experimental station evaluating the nutritional activity of its dried leaves complementing a basic ration of crushed sorghum straw. Twelve local breed sheep of “Mossi breed” divided into three homogeneous batches in weight of four animals of which two batches were complemented (50 g and 100 g of leaves of B. aegyptiaca ) and a control batch were included in experimentation for feeding test during 35 days. Analysis of the chemical composition of the dried leaves of B. aegyptiaca reveals that they are rich in crude protein (12.64% DM) and minerals (14.89% DM) with an average crude cellulose content (13.70% DM). During the experiment, the feed intake rate of dried leaves of B. aegyptiaca was very high (> 99%), and their consumption had a positive influence on the consumption of sorghum straw. The animals in the supplemented lots achieved higher straw intake rates than the control lot. Also, the batch of animals fed 50 g of B. aegyptiaca leaves per day gave the best average daily weight gain (20.7±12.4 g) compared to the batch fed 100 g (14.9±15.5 g). The control batch had a weight loss of 20.7±7.5 g. Regarding these results, we noticed that a rational use of B. aegyptiaca leaves in the diet of small ruminants in rural areas allows a better valorization of cereal straw in the hot dry season to induce an improvement of their zootechnical performances.