silvopasture

Who has experience with Empress Tree?

Hello folks,

I'm doing research for the possibility of growing this tree as a silvopasture crop, mostly for intensive silvopasture forage for sheep and beef cattle in New York. Many other temperate climate (and tropical) countries have experimented with Paulownia sp. already. China, where these trees are native, has probably been using it as forage for hundreds if not thousands of years. If you have any experience or knowledge of this tree, let's discuss it here! I look forward to the conversation :)

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Permalink Reply by Dr. Akos Bodnar on July 2, 2019 at 7:39am

Yes, you right, but there is no much experiences about feeding P. leaves. Actually, I found only some related resources on the Internet and less scientific papers... So, we're planning to start a feeding trial with goats and sheep. As I can see in the above movie, cattle also feed mainly the leaves but not the leaf-stalk. It can be also because of its higher lignin content and - maybe - because of its taste. Feed preferance tests are also needed to find out the real reason.

As I can see, one of the best feeding solutions can be the P. leaf pellet which is mentioned in the publication titled "Potential_Use_of...". It was done in the U.S. and shows very nice results!

Other possibility can be the agroforestry/silvopasture. In this task, I'm just preparing a publication about Paulownia and Crotalaria spp. I'll share it when it will be accepted.

May I ask if anyone has photos about ruminants feeding Paulownia leaves for further use in publications (with referring, of course)?

Jonathan Bates said:

Thanks for sharing those resources. It is my experience that the cattle are not interested in the Paulownia leaves until they start to turn yellow at the end of summer. You mention feeding leaves in the fall in the Nutritive Value article... Do you know why this is? I'm thinking it has something to do with lignin content in the leaves.

Dr. Akos Bodnar said:

Dear All,

I'm working on a new publication about feeding experiences of Paulownia leaves by small ruminants. It would be nice to discuss any kind of experiences, and additionally - of course by the general citation rules - to share nice photos for further use.

You can find here interesting publications about the topic:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325317303_Potential_Use_of...

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324983309_Nutritive_value_...