Effect of feeding range plants with or without Moringa oleifera on growth performance of Sudanese Desert Rams

Abstract

Twelve growing Sudanese desert rams age between 4 to 5 months with average weight of 12.10 ± 0.5 were used to evaluate the effect of feeding Moringa oleifera on feed intake, weight gain and feed conversion ratio in a fattening study comprising of three experimental diets (mixture of range plants (RP), Moringa oleifera pods, stems and leaves (MPSL), and RP + MPSL). The rams were randomly assigned to three dietary treatments with four rams per treatment in a completely randomized desiged (CRD). The results revealed that animals on diet one (mixture of range plants) recorded the highest mean feed intake of 104.48 g/day as compared to the other treatments. Total body weight ranged from 3.3 kg in animals fed MPSL to 7.1 kg in animals fed mixture of RP + MPSL. Feed conversion ratio ranged from ranged from 0.039 to 0.082. Therefore, animals on diet three (RP + MPSL) were significantly (P<0.01) better when compared to those on RP or MPSL in terms of performance. It was concluded that, diets containing mixture of range plants + Moringa oleifera pods, stems and leaves supported better growth performance signifying that inclusion of MPSL in fattening rams diet significantly (P<0.05) reduced feed intake, improved weight gain and feed conversion ratio.