Abstract
The present study was designed to assess the effects of replacing cotton seed cake by Dried <i>Acacia Saligna, Sesbania Sesban</i> and <i>Vigna unguiculata</i> (cowpea) on growth and carcass characteristics of Begait sheep fed grass hay as basal diet and wheat bran as energy source. Twenty four yearling Begait male sheep with an average initial body weight of 25 ± 1.39 kg (mean ± SD) were used in randomized complete block design (RCBD) that lasted for 90 days. Treatments consisted of ad libitum feeding of natural pasture grass hay plus 200g Dry matter (DM) wheat bran and additionally supplementing with100g, 250g, 140g and 180g DM per head per day of cotton seed cake (CSC), <i>Acacia Saligna</i> (AS), <i>Sesbania Sesban</i> (SS) and Cowpea (VU) respectively, each calculated to give 67.6g CP on iso-nitrogenous basis. Lambs were categorized into six blocks of four lambs each based on their initial body weight. CSC and SS resulted in higher (P < 0.05) final body weights than VU; However, the results of body weight change, average daily gain and feed conversion efficiency in CSC, AS and SS were not significantly different (P > 0.05) from each other. Hot carcass weight ranged from 14 kg to 16 kg. Slaughter weight, empty body weight and dressing percentage on slaughter body weight were higher in CSC (cotton seed cake), SS (<i>S.sasban</i>) and AS (<i>A.saligna</i>) as compared to lambs supplemented with VU (cowpea) while VU was not significantly different with AS and SS, Which reflected that the supplements were comparable in their potential to supply nutrients to improve the growth and carcass parameter of sheep. Therefore dried <i>A.saligna</i> and <i>S. sesban</i> foliages can be used to replace commercial concentrate feeds as protein sources.
Highlights
Sheep production in East Africa and in Ethiopia is characterized by low productivity levels in terms of growth rate, meat production and reproductive performance [1]
The NDF and ADF levels in S. sesban were lower than the other supplemental diets used in this study, and the ADL content was lower for cotton seed cake
The results indicated that protein concentration of ration have positive effect on growth and carcass characteristics of Begait sheep
Summary
Sheep production in East Africa and in Ethiopia is characterized by low productivity levels in terms of growth rate, meat production and reproductive performance [1]. Livestock productivity in Ethiopia is one of the lowest in the world with average carcass weights of 108, 10, 8.5, and 0.8 kg/head for cattle, sheep, goats, and chicken respectively; and with an average milk yield of 210 kg/year/cow, all of which are below the average productivity of all least developed countries [2, 3]. Energy and proteins are the major factors affecting productivity of sheep [5, 1]. The lowest energy density at which sheep does not loss weight is between 8 and 10 MJ ME/kg DM and the minimum protein level required for maintenance is about 8% CP in DM [5]. Provision of appropriate and complementary supplementary feedstuffs would be the best alternative strategies to alleviate nutritional problems and enhance the productivity of sheep under smallholder farmers in Ethiopia.
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