Chemical Composition and Digestibility of Preferred Forage Species by Lactating Somali Camels in Kenya

Climate change has increased the frequency and severity of frequent drought in the Kenya arid and semiarid lands with resultant fodder and water shortages. In order to adapt to these longer and less predictable droughts, keeping of camels has been adopted as a coping strategy in grappling with the vagaries of climate change. Camels are both grazers and browsers of a broad spectrum of preferred forages whose nutrient composition is not well documented. The objective of this study was to identify and determine the chemical composition of forage species mostly preferred by lactating Somali camels in Laikipia County, Kenya. Lactating Somali camels and their calves were monitored while browsing and grazing in the rangelands during the wet and dry seasons from August to November 2019. The forage species were ranked on the basis of bite count. The most browsed forages identified through observation were sampled, identified by the local and scientific names, and analyzed for proximate composition, detergent fiber fractions, and in vitro dry matter digestibility. The most browsed forage species were Acacia nubica (22.6%), Acacia seyal (47.3%), Cucumis aculeatus (7.2%), Euclea divinorum (11.1%), Hibiscus parrifolia (11.9%) during the wet season and Barleria acanthoides (22.9%), Balanites aegyptiaca (15.5%), Cynodon dactylon (11.7%), Lycium europaeum (32%), and Pollichia campestris (17.8%) during the dry season. Shrubs constituted 60%, trees 30%, and grasses 10% of the most preferred forage species. The preferred browsed and grazed species had a range of 7.1% +/- 0.4% to 25.7% +/- 1.2% crude protein on a dry matter basis, 29.1% +/- 2.7% to 74.0% +/- 7% for neutral detergent fiber concentrations, and 43.4% +/- 0.2% to 81.6% +/- 0.3% for in vitro dry matter digestibility. The study indicates that trees and shrubs with high crude protein and low neutral detergent fiber concentrations were more preferred, indicating that forage nutritive value affected the forage preference by the camels. (C) 2021 The Society for Range Management. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.