The objective of this study was to determine the annual pod availability, yield and nutritional characteristics of four fruit bearing tree species (FBTS) from which pods are more readily consumed by cattle, as reported by farmers. Tree density and abundance were estimated by conducting a complete inventory of all individual trees larger than 10 cm in diameter at breast height (DBH) on sixteen traditional livestock farms in a dry tropical ecosystem. All fallen pods from seven individual trees of each FBTS were collected as they fell on the ground. A total of 1402 trees were found dispersed in 614 ha of pastures with an overall mean tree density of 2.28 trees/ha.
Pod availability started on the final days of January and ended in May. Acrocomia aculeate (Jacq.) Lodd. ex Mart. produced pods during most of all of the collection period compared to the other tree species. Enterolobium cyclocarpum (Jacq.) Griseb and A. aculeate were the FBTS that produced the most and the least pod yields respectively. Pod nutritional quality ranged between 5 to 16% for crude protein, between 25 to 42.5% for neutral detergent fiber, and between 63 to 72 % for in vitro dry matter digestibility among the four FBTS. It is concluded that leguminous tree species were present at low densities despite the fact that they produce the higher nutritional quality pods. However, pastures containing a FBTS combination with different fruit pattern distributions during the dry season could provide a more stable overall fodder nutritional value available to cattle during the dry season than monoculture pastures. But more research is needed to determine the level that pod production will compensate for pasture availability decline as tree density increases.
