The objective of this study was to determine a palatability scale of five shrub legumes to rusa deer during the dry season in New Caledonia. Acacia ampliceps and Samanea saman remain low in acceptability. Gliricidia sepium is more palatable but quite less than Leucaena leucocephala (native cultivar) and Calliandra calothyrsus (San Ramon). Therefore, since the regression of Leucaena leucocephala population, Calliandra calothyrsus could be very promising to replace it in the deer diet. On the other hand, Acacia ampliceps seems to be the most interesting shrub legume to plant in the west coast, where soil erosion, due to successive droughts and deer overgrazing, needs to be controled

Corniaux, C

Le Bel, S

Sarrailh, J M

English

University of Kentucky

University of Kentucky UKnowledge IGC Proceedings (1997-2023) XVIII IGC (1997) Manitoba & Saskatchewan Shrub Palatability to Rusa Deer (Cervus Timorensis Russa) in New Caledonia C Corniaux Centre de CoopÈration Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le DÈveloppement S Le Bel Centre de CoopÈration Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le DÈveloppement J M. Sarrailh Centre de CoopÈration Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le DÈveloppement Follow this and additional works at: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc  Part of the Agricultural Science Commons, Agronomy and Crop Sciences Commons, Plant Biology Commons, Plant Pathology Commons, Soil Science Commons, and the Weed Science Commons This document is available at https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc/1997/session6/17 <>Grasslands 2000</> This Event is brought to you for free and open access by the Plant and Soil Sciences at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in IGC Proceedings (1997-2023) by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact UKnowledge@lsv.uky.edu. Session 6 - Agroforestry 6-11ABSTRACTThe objective of this study was to determine a palatability scale offive shrub legumes to rusa deer during the dry season in NewCaledonia. Acacia ampliceps and Samanea saman remain low inacceptability. Gliricidia sepium is more palatable but quite less thanLeucaena leucocephala (native cultivar) and Calliandra calothyrsus(San Ramon). Therefore, since the regression of Leucaenaleucocephala population, Calliandra calothyrsus could be verypromising to replace it in the deer diet. On the other hand, Acaciaampliceps seems to be the most interesting shrub legume to plant inthe west coast, where soil erosion, due to successive droughts anddeer overgrazing, needs to be controled.KEYWORDSPalatibility, shrub legumes, rusa deer, behaviour, New CaledoniaINTRODUCTIONDuring the mid-eighties, in New Caledonia as in most tropical areas,the insect pest psyllid (Heteropsylla cubana) devastated theproductivity of Leucaena leucocephala, which provides a supply ofhighly nutritious feed to supplement and enhance the utilisation ofthe lower quality grasses into the dry season. Strategies tried toovercome this problem by agronomic research on other shrub legumeaccessions.  Under New Caledonian climatic and edaphic conditions,four species seem to be extremely promising according to theirproductivity or their nutritive value : Calliandra calothyrsus,Gliricidia sepium, Samanea saman and Acacia ampliceps (Durand,1993 ; Corniaux et al,1996).To complement our studies, this trial was carried out to be morespecific about palatability of these shrubs. The animal model wasjavan rusa deer (Cervus timorensis russa) because of its browsingbehaviour and its commercial importance in New Caledonia (Le Bel,1993).METHODSA preliminary study (Corniaux and Le Bel, 1996) permitted thedefination of methods to measure shrubs palatability to rusa deer.This trial is based on its results.After a fortnight adaptation period, 22 stags (40 to 50 kg) browsedcut shrubs during 5 d (in September, at the beginning of the dryseason). They were complemented with hay at 2 p.m.. They had freeaccess to fodders all day long.Every day, 5 shrub legume species were supplied to the deerseparately in the rack, early in the morning (8 a.m.) :- Leucaena leucocephala (native cultivar)- Calliandra calothyrsus (San Ramon)- Gliricidia sepium- Samanea saman- Acacia ampliceps.Daily, we changed their place in the rack.Offered and consumed shrubs (leaves and stems) were weighed everyday in terms of fresh and dry matter. A consumption note (0 to 10)was given to each shrub 2, 4, 8 and 24 h after the beginning of themeal. During the first meal (around 75 mn), we noted also the deernumbers eating each shrub.RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONPalatability. Shrubs palatibility to javan rusa deer may besummarized in Figure 1. During the first hour after the foddersdistribution, deer essentialy choose both Leucaena leucocephala andCalliandra calothyrsus. At the same time, Gliricidia sepium is eatenat a low level (less than 2 stags / observation) and Samanea samanand Acacia ampliceps are not. Figure 2 confirms this trend on a 24 hperiod. It shows that, only 4 h after the beginning of the first meal,Leucaena leucocephala and Calliandra calothyrsus are almost totallyconsumed (80%). After 24 h, 100% of edible forage (leaves andstems) are eaten for the both of them, while the results are respectively66, 28 and 22% for Gliricidia sepium, Samanea saman and Acaciaampliceps.High Leucaena leucocephala and low Gliricidia sepium palatibilityare well known for a lot of ruminants (Shelton and Brewbaker, 1994; Simons and Stewart, 1994). This is confirmed by our study.However, Calliandra calothyrsus seems to be better used by deerthan by other ruminants, regarding only palatability level (Palmer etal, 1994). It is quite possible that the proline-rich salivary proteinsof deer may permit them to utilise the proteins in high tannin treelegumes such as Calliandra in a way not available to cattle becauseof their different digestive system (Semiadi et al, 1995). Anyway,Calliandra calothyrsus is promising to replace Leucaenaleucocephala in the rusa deer diet.On the other hand, Acacia ampliceps palatability is low. Therefore,this shrub legume could be useful to control the effects of slopeerosion on the New Caledonian west coast. Indeed, in this dry area,before its regression, Leucaena leucocephala contributed to limitsoil degradation, despite overgrazing of deer and wild goats.Limits and next study. A lot of factors may explain apparentdifferences in palatability. They are well known for species. But otherpossible reasons for the variation in palatability are also cultivars,climatic and edaphic conditions and season (Ickowicz, 1994 ; Owen-Smith and Cooper, 1987). So, we will have to check our classificationwith other species and cultivars for the end of the dry season and forthe wet season.Further studies should be done in the shrubs management for javanrusa deer, because of his intermediate feeder’s behaviour. We intendalso to get a better understanding of the digestible degradation oftannins in Calliandra eaten by rusa deer.REFERENCESCorniaux,C., N., Durand, J.M., Sarrailh and H., Guerin. 1996.Composition chimique et dÈgradabilitÈ enzymatique et in vitrod’espËces ligneuses arbustives utilisables par les ruminants dans lesparcours extensifs de la Nouvelle CalÈdonie. 1. Typologie. RevueElev. MÈd. VÈt. Pays Trop., 49 (1) : 60-67.Corniaux, C. and S., Le Bel. 1996 . Note sur la mise au point d’unemÈthode de mesure de l’appÈtabilitÈ d’arbustes fourragers destinÈsau cerf rusa. CIRAD-EMVT, NoumÈa, New Caledonia, 5 p.ID NO. 1308SHRUB PALATABILITY TO RUSA DEER (CERVUS TIMORENSIS RUSSA) IN NEWCALEDONIAC. Corniaux1, S. Le Bel1 and J.M. Sarrailh21Centre de CoopÈration Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le DÈveloppement, DÈpartement Elevage, BP 186 NoumÈa, New Caledonia2Centre de CoopÈration Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le DÈveloppement, DÈpartement ForÍt, BP 10 001 Montravel, New CaledoniaSession 6 - Agroforestry 6-12Durand, N. 1993. Identification d’espËces ligneuses arbustivesutilisables par les ruminants dans les parcours extensifs de NouvelleCalÈdonie. Etudes et SynthËses. CIRAD-EMVT, NoumÈa, NewCaledonia, 54 p.Ickowicz, A. 1994. Etude de l’influence du site de prÈlËvement etde la saison sur la composition des feuilles de ligneux tropicaux.Pages 1-39 in H. Guerin, ed. Valeur alimentaire des fourrages ligneuxconsommÈs par les ruminants en Afrique centrale et de l’ouest.Commission des CommunautÈs EuropÈennes. DG XII. CIRAD-EMVT, Paris.Le Bel, S. 1993. L’Èlevage du cerf rusa en Nouvelle CalÈdonie :bilan et perpectives. CIRAD-EMVT, NoumÈa, New Caledonia, 30p.Owen-Smith, N and S.M. Cooper. 1987. Palatibility of woody plantsto browsing ruminants in a South African savanna.Ecology, 68 : 319-330.Palmer, B., D.J. Macqueen and R.C. Gutteridge. 1994. Calliandracalothyrsus - a multipurpose tree legume for humid locations. Pages65-74 in R.C. Gutteridge and H.M. Shelton, ed. Forage tree legumein tropical agriculture. CAB International.Semiadi, G., T.N. Barry, P.D.Muir and J., Hodgson. 1995. Dietarypreferences of sambar (Cervus unicolor) and red deer (Cervuselaphus) offered browse,forage legume and grass species. Agri. Sci.,125 : 99-107.Shelton H.M., and J.L. Brewbaker. 1994. Leucaena leucocephala- the most widely used forage tree legume. Pages 16-29 in R.C.Gutteridge and H.M. Shelton, ed. Forage tree legume in tropicalagriculture. CAB International.Simons, A.J. and J.L. Stewart. 1994. Gliricidia sepium - amultipurpose forage tree legume. Pages 30-48 in R.C. Gutteridgeand H.M. Shelton, ed. Forage tree legume in tropical agriculture.CAB International.Figure 1Deer number at the rack from the beginning of the meal.Figure 2Evolution of the shrub consumption note in 24h (note 10:all the edible fodder is eaten)

Shrub Palatability to Rusa Deer (Cervus Timorensis Russa) in New Caledonia

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Shrub Palatability to Rusa Deer (Cervus Timorensis Russa) in New Caledonia

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