I.M. HASHIM

Range/Livestock Section, Agricultural Research Corporation, Western Sudan Agricultural Research Project, Kadugli, Sudan

Abstract

Haraz (Acacia albida) pods were collected in South Kordofan during the dry season. About 150 pods were selected at random, dried and weighed. Seeds were removed from the selected pods and counted and seeds and seed hulls (empty pods) were weighed.
Eight free-ranging cows were penned at 1700 h and group-fed haraz pods. At the same time a 100 g faecal sample was taken from each cow. These samples were dried in the sun and crushed, and seeds were removed, counted and weighed.
The mean seed number per pod was 19.95 ± 0.04 and the weight of the pod was 3.02 ± 0.08 g. Seeds constituted 46.2% of the pod weight. Seeds ingested with pods passed through the digestive tract intact.