Tamarindus indica

Tamarind

Medium-sized stately tree up to 12 m high with a dense rounded crown of feathery leaves. The pale-yellow flowers with dark-red buds are succeeded by pods 3 cm broad and l 5 cm long containing a dark-brown edible sour pulp. To make the seeds palatable to cattle, they should be ground and soaked in water for an hour before feeding.

As % of dry matter

DM

CP

CF

Ash

EE

NFE

Ca

P

Ref

Fresh leaves,

Pakistan

25.2

15.8

23.7

7.9

9.6

43.0

2.86

0.26

308

Fresh leaves, India

13.4

17.7

9.5

7.0

52.4

2.39

0.25

436

Seeds, India

18.3

26.4

3.5

7.4

44.4

0.14

0.30

"

Nylon bag degradability

a

b

c

12hr

48hr

Ref

(%)

(%)

(/hour)

(%)

(%)

Leaves

DM

26.0

45.0

0.0473

67.1

627

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

Amino acid composition as % of crude protein

Leaf

Ref

80

Arg

Cys

Gly

His

Ils

Leu

Lys

Met

Phe

Thr

Try

Tyr

Val

5.9

0.9

5.0

2.3

5.2

9.2

5.9

1.3

5.9

4.8

-

3.6

5.9