Effect of Concentrate Supplementation on Performances of Ethiopian Lowland Afar and Blackhead Ogaden Lambs

Abstract

The study was conducted to evaluate the effect of increased concentrate supplementation on nutrient intake, growth performance, carcass characteristics, duration of feeding and profitability of Ethiopian Afar and Blackhead Ogaden (BHO) lambs. Forty-eight lambs (24/breed) initially weighing 17.84±1.6 kg were randomly assigned to three dietary treatments (T) in Complete Randomized Design. Each lamb was fed on tef straw ad libtium and supplemented with 150, 300, 450 g d-1 of concentrate (containing 19.4% crude protein (CP) and 11.28 MJ ME kg-1DM) in T1, T2 and T3, respectively. Intake and growth trial lasted for 126 days, followed by digestibility trial of 7 days. Dry matter (DM) intake increased (p<0.0001) with increasing concentrate offer in lambs in general, but higher (p<0.05) in Afar than in BHO lambs. Intake of CP peaked at the highest level of supplementation. Increased (p<0.0001) digestibility of DM, CP, neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) were noted at higher concentrate offer in Afar lambs. Average daily gain of lambs increased (p<0.0001) with increased concentrate, and lambs reached the target weight (25-30kg) for export market relatively within short period of feeding at higher than lower level of concentrate supplementation. Given equal level of concentrate, Afar lambs reached the target weight in less days of feeding than BHO lambs. Increasing concentrate has resulted in increased slaughter weight (SW), hot carcass weight (HCW), dressing percent (DP) and lean-to-fat ratio (LFR) in Afar lambs, while it improved SW, HCW and DP in BHO lambs. This study indicated that increased meat production measured in terms of live weight change and carcass yield in Afar and BHO lambs can be achieved at high concentrate supplementation with profit.