**5. Mineral constituents of weeds**

Minerals in appropriate quantity are essential for dairy animals to be utilized in various metabolic processes, for boosting immunity level against diseases and reproductive health. Asthma plant (*Eurphobia hirta*) was recommended to be included in animal feed for having reasonably higher concentrations of major minerals including calcium (Ca) (13.6%), magnesium (Mg) (3.0%) and potassium (K) (2.5%), along with many trace elements such as iron (Fe) (0.7%), copper (Cu) (0.1%) and manganese (Mn) (0.1%). Common chicory (*Cichorium intybus*) was also suggested as forage weed for having a comparable mineral composition including Ca (6%), Mg (2%), Fe (0.5%) and Cu (0.06%). In addition, pink sorrel (*Oxalis debilis*) was found to be poor on animal nutrition scale for being deficient in Ca (4%), Mg (2.3%), Fe (2.4) and Zinc (Zn) (0.15) compared to other forage weeds [10, 21, 48]. Very limited information has been reported so far regarding mineral constituents of weeds which limit their utilization as a feed source for ruminants. **Table 3** contains mineral constitution of some weeds.


**Table 3.**

*Invasive Species - Introduction Pathways, Economic Impact, and Possible Management Options*

Digestibility is an important indicator of any forage's quality. Lambsquarters (*Chenopodium album*), barn-yard-grass (*Echinochloa crus-galli*), dandelion (*Taraxacum officinale*), Jerusalem artichoke (*Helianthus tuberosus*), yellow foxtail (*Setaria glauca*), perennial sowthistle (*Sonchus arvensis*) and Canada thistle (*C. arvense*) had in-vitro dry matter digestibility equal to alfalfa (*Medicago sativa*). In addition, common ragweed (*Ambrosia artemisiifolia*) and redroot pigweed (*Amaranthus retroflexus*) had even greater in-vitro dry matter digestibility compared to alfalfa. Similarly, it was reported that high protein and low fiber contents are indicative of high energy and high productive value feeds. Field bindweed (*Convolvulus arvensis* L.) and common amaranth (*Amaranthus retrofl* exus L.) recorded the highest protein (18.8 and 13.0% respectively) and the lowest fiber (14.7 and 17.6% respectively) which was comparable to alfalfa (*Medicago sativa*) hay having 16.9% protein and 27% fiber. In addition, especial emphasis was paid to palatability of weeds as high nutritional value becomes irrelevant if animals have little likelihood for the weeds species. The hay of different weeds was given to sheep to determine their palatability by using cafeteria of manger technique and biomass consumed in 15 minutes was recorded. Alfalfa had the highest palatability followed by field bindweed (*Convolvulus arvensis* L.)

to dairy animals [10, 11, 13, 19, 37, 46].

Knapweed (*Centaurea* 

Nut sedge (*Cyperus rotundus*) [11]

Field bindweed (*Convolvulus arvensis*) [11]

Pigweed (*Amaranthus viridis*) [11]

Johnson grass (*Sorghum halepense*) [46]

Field mustard (*Brassica* 

Bermuda grass (*Cynodon* 

Mexican aster (*Cosmos bipinnatus*) [40]

Tick clover (*Desmodium molliculum*) [40]

Yellow foxtail (*Setaria glauca*) [10]

*fats F, total ash A) of weeds [11, 17, 21, 31, 35, 39, 41, 48, 49].*

Chicory (*Cichorium intybus*) [46]

*rapa*) [46]

*dactylon*) [11]

Red dead-nettle (*Lamium purpureum*) [43]

*stoebe*) [43]

grass (*Pennisetum purpureum*) [9]. Similarly, spiderwort (*Tripogandra purpuracens*), a weed of South America recorded reasonably good concentration of carbohydrates which was higher compared to *Tridax coronopifolia* and was recommended to be fed

**Weeds OM (%) CP (%) ADF (%) NDF (%) F (%) A (%)**

— 19.5 — 29.5 — —

91.03 16.3 57.8 64.5 — 12.8

— 9.7 25.8 — 2.1 9.8

90.30 27.0 41.0 35.5 — 10.4

91.00 26.2 57.7 31.0 — 13.2

— 5.3 30.2 — 1.5 5.5

— 9.8 49.5 63.7 — —

— 7.1 35.2 — 3.34 7.5

90.90 13.5 47.0 76.5 — 13.3

— 10.5 43.5 41.7 — —

— 16.2 42.9 41.6 — —

— 20 30.0 — — —

*Nutritional quality (organic matter, crude protein CP, acid detergent fiber ADF, neutral detergent fiber NDF,* 

**118**

**Table 2.**

*Mineral constituents (calcium Ca, magnesium Mg and zinc Zn) of different weeds grown under varied agro-climatic conditions [11, 18, 22, 32, 40].*
