**2.1** *Adansonia digitata*

Some trees are valued as excellent sources of forage feed for ruminant animals while they are known as noxious weeds in some areas. A tree, such as Leucaena leucocephala has been shown to have great potential as a source of high quality feed for ruminants and also capable of improving intake of poor quality rouphage and live weight gain in large and small ruminants.

Adansonia digitata linn (English: baobab; Yoruba: Ose; Hausa: Kuka; Nupe: Machi; Kanuri: kuka; Bini: Usi.) is a tropical tree specie popularly called the Baobab tree. It has distinctive large flower and fruits hanging from long stalks. It is wide spread in the drier regions of Africa. It is much more widespread in the savanna of Nigeria where it is usually planted or presented. The tree is about 25m high with a very stout bole reaching 12m in girth. The bark is grey or purplish and thick. The bark produces a strong fibre resulting in its being stripped off. Hence, the trunk is often much more deformed. (Keay, et.al. 1965).

The pulp of baobab tree was found to be acidic and rich in ascorbic acid, iron, calcium and pectin. The pectin was mainly water soluble and had a low degree of esterification and a low intrinsic viscosity. (Nour, et.al. 1980)

According to purseglove (1968) the fruit pulp which contains tartaric acid is made into a drink and is also used as a fruit seasonal. In the Sudan, the pulp is commonly chewed, sucked or made into a drink. The kernels are edible and the seed contain 19% oil.

### **2.2 Importance and characteristics of sheep**

Sheep together with goats, *Ilamas* and *alpacas* are small ruminants because they are ruminants; they eat low quality food, particularly fibrous vegetation which cannot be eaten by humans and non-ruminant animals such as pigs and poultry. People keep sheep because they produce meat, milk, wool or hair, skins and manure. Sheep are the only species of animal that produce wool, although goats, rabbits and alpacas sometimes produce similar high quality fibre. Therefore sheep are a way of converting poor quality food into desirable products. Breeds which have to survive along dry season often have a fat tail or rump which is a store of energy equivalent to the hump of camels or cattle (Gatenby, R.M, 1991).
