581 Nitrogen utilization of West African Dwarf sheep fed mixtures of Oil Palm Slurry and Cassava Peel in varying proportions

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the nitrogen utilization and digestible nutrients by West African Dwarf (WAD) sheep fed mixture of fermented Oil Palm Slurry (OPS) and Cassava Peel (CaP) based diets. A total of twenty four (24) female WAD sheep between the ages of 5-6 months, weighing 9.18 – 11.8 kg were allotted to 6 experimental diets in a completely randomized design as follows; One liter of OPS mixed with 1Kg, 2Kg, 3Kg, 4Kg, 5Kg (Diets A – E) of CaP, respectively while 6Kg (Diet F) of CaP only, served as the control. The experiment lasted fourteen (14) days with feed and water served ad libtum.Data collected were subjected to analysis to ascertain; nitrogen utilization and total digestible nutrients by WAD sheep were also determined. Parameters measured included: Nitrogen intake (N-intake g/d), Fecal Nitrogen g/d (Fecal N), Urinary Nitrogen g/d (Urinary-N), Total Nitrogen excreted g/d (T-N excreted), Nitrogen balance g/d (N-balance) and Nitrogen retention % (N-retention). Digestibility of dry matter, crude protein, crude fiber, ether extract, nitrogen free extracts and total digestible nutrients (TDN) were determined. Results revealed Significant variations (P<0.05) for all parameters measured. Sheep on Diet C (One liter of OPS mixed with 3kg CaP) had the highest values (16.01, 14.0 and 75.05%) for N-intake; N- balance and N-retention respectively, while least values ( 10.00g/d,1.45 g/d, and 45.60%) respectively, were obtained for sheep on Diet A (One liter of OPS mixed with 1Kg of CaP). Highest value (5.44 g/d) of T-N excreted was recorded for animals on diets C, while the lowest value (2.05 g/d) was recorded for animals on diet A. Significant reduction in values (1.45g/d and 0.60g/d) respectively, were observed for Fecal and Urinary-N in sheep placed on diet C as compared to the increased values of (4.24g/d, 2.50g/d and 1.20g/d, 1.00g/d) respectively, for animals placed on diet A and diet B (One liter of OPS mixed with 2Kg of CaP). Significant observations were obtained for digestible CP, CF, EE ,NFE and TDN, where sheep placed on diet C record highest value of 73.04% and a decreasing value of (58.06%) and (53.90%) were recorded for animals on diets B and A respectively. All the results from these experiments, give strong ground to conclude that sheep placed on Diet C - 1 liter Oil Palm Slurry : 3kg Cassava Peel, showed best results for both parameters measured compared to other diets as sheep feed.