Mineral and Antinutritional Contents of Some Forage Legumes Consumed by Small Ruminants in the Derived Savanna of Nigeria

Experiment were conducted to evaluate the nutritive of 15 forage legumes collected from 5 locations Ogbomoso local government area of Oyo state in Nigeria. Analysis carried out for macro and micro-mineral contents of these plants showed high percentages of Mg (0.31), P (0.28), Ca (1.25), Na (0.02) and K (2.44). Overall mean levels were 23.64 ppm for Zn, 315.66 for Fe, 86.42 for Mn, 9.43 for Cu and 108.90 for Se. In all forages the concentrations of physic-acid (28.55-316.22mg g-1), physic-phosphorus (20.1792.50 mg g-1), oxalates (0.540.82) and nitrates (0.13-0.66%) were moderate to high. Saponin and hydrogen cyanide contents were inherently low or low due to a high drying temperature of the samples. Tannin acid differed considerably among the different species, being absent or low in some forages and extremely high in others. These differences may be genetic or due to cultural practices and soil composition. The nutritional implications of the results are discussed.