Acacia sieberiana

Paperbark thorn

Tree up to 15 m high with light-coloured bark and often with a flat crown. The leaves, 10-15 cm long have straight white thorns at their base. The branches and often the leaves are covered with yellow hairs. The flower heads are cream-coloured and spherical. The straight, often hairy pods, 8-12 cm long and 2-3 cm broad, are readily eaten by stock; no cases of prussic acid poisoning have been reported. The tips of young shoots are intensively browsed particularly toward the end of the dry season.

As % of dry matter

DM

CP

CF

Ash

EE

NFE

Ca

P

Ref

Pods, Nigeria

89.8

12.8

20.2

9.0

1.3

56.7

58

Pods, Zimbabwe

94.5

8.4

25.1

6.7

1.9

57.9

0.10

0.14

499

Fresh leaves,

Senegal

48.8

15.8

23.6

11.6

6.3

42.7

2.50

0.10

537

Digestibility (%)

Animal

CP

CF

EE

NFE

ME

Ref

Pods

Cattle

57.6

59.2

68.4

60.2

2.11

499

Nylon bag degradability

a

b

c

12hr

48hr

Ref

(%)

(%)

(/hour)

(%)

(%)

Leaves

DM

33

56

0.028

67

628

N

22

52

0.025

74

"

[P (rumen degradability at time t) = a+b*(1-exp(-c*t))]