The livestock acceptability of leucaena in almost any form is
very high. All types of ruminants and non-ruminants relish the
plant in its green and dried state. Fowls, including ducks, quail,
turkeys, guineas, and particularly chickens thrive on green leu-
caena in addition to leucaena meal. The acceptability of leucaena
by all types of livestock and fowls poses no problem whatsoever.
Indeed, the danger is in the opposite direction by their consum-
ing the plant in excessive amounts to their own detriment. The
palatability of leucaena for cattle is excellent and speaks for itself,
judged by their feeding on the plant in its various forms.
 The nutritive value of leucaena forage is comparable to that of
alfalfa. Incidentally, leucaena has been referred to as the "alfalfa
of the tropics." The whole leaf contains both nutrients and
roughage which makes a ruminant feed comparable to that of
alfalfa forage.
 Rosas et al., (1980) report nutrient analyses of leucaena from
Panama in which they concluded that leucaena is equivalent to
that of alfalfa and pigeon pea. Lee (1981) reports the nutrient
composition, proximate analysis, trace minerals and amino acids
in four leucaena lines grown in Taiwan. Three of these lines in-
clude the Hawaiian type and the cultivars 'El Salvador' and 'Peru.'
His data indicate that leucaena seed meal and stem and leaf meal
are higher in protein and lower in fiber than that of meal of the
whole plant. The iron content of the stem and leaf meal of the
two cultivars was 3 to 14 times that found in the Hawaiian type.
 A comparison of the nutritive value of leucaena leaf meal with
that of alfalfa, the legume by which all other legumes are usually


compared, is of interest. The nutritive value of leucaena is
superior to that of alfalfa (Work, 1938; 1946). Studies indicate
the superiority of leucaena leaf meal over that of alfalfa in protein
content, B-carotene and vitamin A, in addition to a higher TDN
value (Gantt, 1958). Data of Kinch and Ripperton (1962) em-
phasize the comparative carotene content of leucaena leaf meal and
alfalfa; i.e., alfalfa 205 ppm, leucaena 523 ppm. The high carotene
and xanthophyll content of leucaena justifies the use of leucaena
leaf meal in poultry diets. This is because carotene is suitable for
pigmenting the meat of chickens and particularly the egg yolks.
The TDN content of leucaena is comparable to that of alfalfa
(Henke, 1958; Work, 1946). The forage components, coarse stems,
fine stems, and leaves are listed in ascending order of protein con-
tent (Kinch and Ripperton, 1962). Dehydration does not affect the
protein content of leucaena forage (Oakes, 1968).
 Digestibility trials indicate leucaena is equivalent or superior to
that of alfalfa (Gantt, 1958; Henke, 1958; Work, 1938; 1946).
TDN digestible coefficients for leucaena vary from 51 to 70%
whereas those for digestible crude protein (DCP) vary from 12 to
17% on a DM basis (Singh and Mudgal, 1967; Upadhyay et al.,
1974). The range of UF energy values has been reported to be
0-220, where UF is a unit of forage equivalent to the nutritive
value of one kg of barley (Compere, 1959). MJ metabolizable
energy/kg dry matter values of 2.74-2.83 are reported by D'Mello
and Thomas (1978); 17.0-20.1 MJ gross energy/kg dry matter
(Vietmeyer et al., 1977); and 4.06 MJ/kg dry matter (Dingayan
and Fronda, 1950).


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 PROCEEDINGS of the CARIBBEAN FOOD CROPS SOCIETY-VOL. XX