Abstract 17

Kudo,-H; Jalaludin,-S; Mutalib,-AR

Eco-physiology Research Division, Tropical Agriculture Research Center, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305, Japan.

JARQ,-JapanAgricultural-Research-Quarterly. 1989, 23: 1, 78-80; 12 ref.

The use of Leucaena as a forage species is limited because it contains mimosine, beta -[N-(3-hydroxy-4-pyridone)]- alpha -aminopropionic acid, which is hydrolysed in the rumen to 3-hydroxy-4(1H)-pyridone and 2-hydroxy-3(1H)-pyridone (DHP); DHP may be detoxified by further microbial degradation. In an experiment to investigate this, rumen fluid was taken from 7 cattle and 3 water buffaloes fed on Guinea grass, and 11 sheep fed on Guinea grass, or on mixed diets of palm kernel cake and bran, or palm kernel cake, Guinea grass and urea. Solutions of mimosine and DHP were incubated with rumen fluid collected from individual animals, and the concentrations of mimosine and DHP were measured at intervals. Conversion of mimosine to DHP was observed in most of the incubations within 5 h; however, incubation in rumen fluid from some animals fed on Guinea grass did not lead to degradation of mimosine even after 72 h. There was no evidence of detoxification of DHP in any of the incubations.