In vitro Dry Matter Digestibility and in vitro Gas Production of Some Acacia Seeds Treated with Sodium Hydroxide and Poly Ethylene Glycol

Objectives: The study was carried out to determine the nutritive value and the effect of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and poly ethylene glycol (PEG) treatments on in-vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) and gas production parameters of some Acacia seeds. Materials and Methods: Seeds of Acacia mellifea (A. mellifea), Acacia senegal (A. senegal), Acacia tortillis (A. tortillis), Acacia seyal (A. seyal ) and Acacia nilotica (A. nilotica) were collected from El-Gadaref State-East Sudan. Samples of each seeds were milled, and divided into 3 groups and assign to one of the three treatments; untreated seeds (control seeds), 0.2% PEG treatment (PEG seeds) and 0.2% NaOH treatment (NaOH seeds). Results: The results revealed that all of acacia seeds under study contained appreciable amount of crude protein (CP), which range from 16.68 to 22.57%. A. mellifea seeds had higher level of CP, lower level of crude fiber (CF) and tannin than the other seeds. Contrary Acacia nilotica seeds contained high level of CF, tannin and low amount of CP. PEG seeds and NaOH seeds had higher IVDMD and gas production than control seeds. The correlation study indicated that the IVDMD of acacia seeds were positively correlated with CP and negatively with tannins and CF content. Conclusion: It is concluded that the PEG and NaOH treatments had a great potential to improve the IVDMD and gas production for acacia seeds with superiority to the PEG treatment.