Shrub and tree potential as animal food in Galicia, NW Spain

The experiment was carried out in Foz, in the northern coast of Lugo (Galicia, NW Spain) and consisted of taking monthly, during a year, samples of fractions with diameter lower than 0.5 mm of shrubs belong to Araliaceae (Hedera helix L.), Ericaceae (Calluna vulgaris (L) Hull, Daboecia cantabrica (Hudson) C. Koch and Erica cinerea L.), Leguminosae (Cytisus scoparius (L.) Link and Ulex minor Roth), Rosaceae (Rubus ulmifolius Schott) families, and of tree species from Betulaceae (Alnus glutinosa (L) Gaertner and Betula alba L.), Fagaceae (Quercus robur L.), Pinaceae (Pinus pinaster Aiton) and Salicaeae (Populus alba L.) families, in order to evaluate their potential forage quality (Protein, phosphorus, calcium, potassium and magnesium content). Results showed that Leguminosae family has higher protein, phosphorus and potassium content than species from another families. Hedera helix and Rubus idmifolius have higher levels of calcium and magnesium than the other shrub species. Populus has the highest level of Ca, Mg and K between studied trees, but protein percentage is higher in Betula alba and Alnus glutinosa than in the other tree species, that can be explained for Alnus by the symbiosis with Frankia that can fix nitrogen. Pinus pinaster has the highest Na concentration that is low for animal feeding. Taking into account that the diet of animals should not be monospecific, the found results indicate that the levels of those elements will be enough for horse feeding (with the exception of potassium during the winter and the summer) and for goat feeding (with the exception of calcium and magnesium during the winter, and potassium during the winter and spring). Sodium concentrations were usually lower than those described for horse and goat feeding.