PHYTOCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF THE ANTINUTRITIONAL FACTORS IN THE UVITO LEAVES (Cordia dentata Poir)

Objective. To establish antinutritional factors in uvito (Cordia dentata Poir), and the effect of its dietary inclusion in animal’ health as assessed by gas production experiments. Materials and Methods. Leaves of C. dentata were collected at the Codazzi municipality, Cesar, Colombia during the dry (March) and rainy (September) seasons. Leaves of Colosuana (Bothriochloa pertusa), a grass widely available in the region, were also collected and used as control diet. The content of tannins, saponins, alkaloids, nitrates and nitrites was determined in all samples. Gas production experiments were carried out in order to assess dry matter degradability and the nutritional impact of nitrates, a major dietary component in uvito. Results. Our results suggest that uvito is a degradable forage and a good protein source (crude protein content = 16.8%); the content of saponins, alkaloids and tannins should not be considered as antinutritional factors in this species. However, nitrate content were high enough that they could be classified as potentially toxic and thus this condition should be monitored if uvito is to be included in the diet of ruminants. Conclusions. We show that gas production was increased by the addition of nitrates present in C. dentata leaves.