Nutrition values of banana leaves?

[GBov]

I am planning on planting LOTS of banana plants in the spring and have started wondering what the nutritional value of the leaves are. All the buns love banana peels and canna lily leaves but so far they are only treats.

 

[MaggieJ]

I googled nutritional value banana leaves and there is lots of information online. I gather they are used as livestock forage in many parts of the world. Here's one link to get you started.
http://www.feedipedia.org/node/686

 

[GBov]

I googled nutritional value banana leaves and there is lots of information online. I gather they are used as livestock forage in many parts of the world. Here's one link to get you started.
http://www.feedipedia.org/node/686

Wonderful WONDERFUL site!

I can now work out how many banana tree's (and a few other plants) to put into my permaculture plan. Am basing it on 5 people and 50 rabbits so now its just math! :lol:

 

[ramblingrabbit]

I have about an acre of bananas and feed the leaves sometimes. But they are not a favorite among our rabbits. The young growouts will eat them as part of their ration, maybe a leaf or two per day for around half a dozen rabbits. And after several days of this interest seems to wane for a while as well. The adult breeders won't eat them hardly at all. I seem to recall reading something about them being very high in tannins, which may have something to do with this. Many things may be great in modest amounts, but problematic when they make up too large a proportion of the fodder.

Or maybe my herd is just spoiled for choice. Of course, your results may vary, and I don't want to rain on your parade, but it occurs to me (from experience ) that palatability is also something to consider carefully before you get too far into the planning process...

Good luck, and cheers!

 

[GBov]

I have about an acre of bananas and feed the leaves sometimes. But they are not a favorite among our rabbits. The young growouts will eat them as part of their ration, maybe a leaf or two per day for around half a dozen rabbits. And after several days of this interest seems to wane for a while as well. The adult breeders won't eat them hardly at all. I seem to recall reading something about them being very high in tannins, which may have something to do with this. Many things may be great in modest amounts, but problematic when they make up too large a proportion of the fodder.

Or maybe my herd is just spoiled for choice. Of course, your results may vary, and I don't want to rain on your parade, but it occurs to me (from experience ) that palatability is also something to consider carefully before you get too far into the planning process...

Good luck, and cheers!

I wonder if different kinds of banana plants taste different?

All of mine gobble up canna lilly leaves which are a relitive of bananas but it took them all several weeks to even taste passion flower vines and a few weeks more to like them so perhaps its just a taste thing?

I do know I have stopped being so careful of their "delicate" stomachs and just toss in a handful of anything to hand plus a handful of hay and a handful of pellets, to my fryers. So far they are growing out really nicely but the cold weather is really limiting what is available. About to start cutting wild grape vines for them but that takes alot more time than cutting a leaf each from the canna patch. :roll:

 

[Featherhoof]

My mom feeds bananna leaves to her chickens almost daily, when in season and they love it. I'm not so sure about giving it to the buns. I imagine it would be fine. I do, however feed my buns LOTS of roselle branches and sweet potato vines. I am also growing pidgeon peas( I will be feeding the branches in moderation after I harvest the peas. I grow bocking 14 strain of comfrey, but haven't fed them much of it because they aren't planted in the ground yet. I give them my spent cowpea and green bean plants(in moderation). They have no interest in pumpkin vines. They LOVE sunflower stalks. I have lots of wild grape vines that I feed them as well. I find that I only realy need to feed them hay in the winter, when less roughage is available. My fryers have grown nicely with this diet of greens and Purina pro pellets.

 

[ramblingrabbit]

I wonder if different kinds of banana plants taste different?

All of mine gobble up canna lilly leaves which are a relitive of bananas but it took them all several weeks to even taste passion flower vines and a few weeks more to like them so perhaps its just a taste thing?

I do know I have stopped being so careful of their "delicate" stomachs and just toss in a handful of anything to hand plus a handful of hay and a handful of pellets, to my fryers. So far they are growing out really nicely but the cold weather is really limiting what is available. About to start cutting wild grape vines for them but that takes alot more time than cutting a leaf each from the canna patch. :roll:

Not sure about the different varieties, but I haven't found any info yet to suggest there's much difference--I have only one variety, Apple, which is what most people here grow. Bananas as a whole sure as heck aren't harmful and are totally fine as a livestock feed. They are fed to livestock all over the world. But different animals have different quirks though, and I just thought you should consider palatability as well as nutritional value in your planning, since if you can't get the rabbits to eat much of something anyway, nutritional content is a moot point... (I got really pumped about Moringa at one point, but then I found the rabbits didn't share my enthusiasm, for example...)

My understanding from what I've read about banana leaves as fodder is that, because they are not as nutritious or digestible as many other forages, they tend to be used more as a famine feed or substitute than a large part of an herbivore's feed intake (since during severe droughts and whatnot bananas may be one of the few abundant sources of green foliage left around particularly in dry climates or in crowded areas where all the available land is already being used for something). I know that fermentation (like with ensiling) makes what nutrients there are in banana plants more available (pigs can even eat silage properly made from banana stem). But there is little information on making silage for rabbits out there, and many potential problems with making it safe and feasible.

Let us know how it goes! I don't know many people here who do rabbits, so I'm always learning too.

__________ Mon Nov 10, 2014 1:50 pm __________

I am also growing pidgeon peas( I will be feeding the branches in moderation after I harvest the peas.

Pigeon peas are great! we use a lot of the greens for feeding. If you cut them when they are starting to flower, protein content is higher--but then of course you don't get the peas...

__________ Mon Nov 10, 2014 2:03 pm __________

Cordyline is another great tropical/subtropical forage plant, though I've yet to find much literature on this one. People use it a lot in landscaping here, because it had many important household uses and cultural significance in ancient Hawaii, and just because they're pretty. There is a large green one (C. fruticosa, I think) that is naturalized here, and rabbits love it (but the colored varieties they will eat too). It's the easiest thing to gather for feeding because we can just snap the leaves from the stem by hand and gather them into bunches, quick and easy. The guy I bought my buns from feeds a pellet diet, but I believe he gives C. fruticosa to his breeders ad lib.