Effects of location and time of storage on the nutritional quality of grain legume fodder in northern Ghana

The objective of the study was to evaluate dry matter (DM) loss, nutritional quality and animal feed intake preference of different grain legume fodders stored in different locations. Three major grain legumes (cowpea, groundnut and soybean) fodders were harvested at physiological maturity, air-dried and stored according to the experimental design. The experimental design used was a split-split plot design with 18 observations replicated four times, each replicate in a different community. The treatments included: whole plot - 3 types of storage locations (rooftop, tree fork and room), sub plot - 3 types of grain legume fodders (cowpea, groundnut and soybean) and sub-sub plot - 2 types of packing (sacks and unpacked, but tied with ropes). Stored fodders were weighed monthly and sampled quantities fed to 12 matured sheep to determine DM intake. Samples were also evaluated for nutritional quality over time, i.e. crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), in-vitro organic matter digestibility and metabolizable energy (ME). Fodders stored in sacks lost 13% DM which was lower (P<0.05) compared to the DM loss of 32% of fodder tied with rope over a period of four months. DM intake by sheep was higher (P<0.05) for cowpea fodder when stored in sacks (833 g day -1) than when tied with rope (741 g day -1). Similarly, sheep consumed more (761 g day -1) groundnut fodderstored in sacks than (649 g day -1) those tied with ropes. Cowpea fodder was rated first followed by groundnut and soybean fodder was the least preferred by farmers and their animals.