Effect of Macronutrient Needs on Digestibility and Average Daily Gain of Sheep (Ovisaries var. Padjadjaran, Family Bovidae)

Abstract

Feeding management is a very important factor that makes sure fulfil quality and quantity for livestock nutrient sufficiency that affects the success rate in livestock farming. The excellent macro nutrient needs determination is an absolute thing to achieve the optimal growth which represented by digestibility and average daily gain. Feed formulation that considering the material selection, availability, and the price of feed materials could gave sustainable livestock feed management. The study was carried out to evaluate the effect of macronutrients needs on digestibility and average daily gain of sheep. Twenty Padjadjaran sheep (Ovisaries var. Padjadjaran, Family Bovidae), which resulted from crossbreeding between South-African Capstaad, Merino, and local, were chosen as tested animals. These white sheep were placed separately in individual metabolism cages. All animals were 8-10 months of age and their body weights ranged between 15-33 kg. The animals were divided into 5 groups and each group was treated with different dietary feeds (4 times replication) that contained dry material, crude protein, crude fiber, crude fat, and nitrogen-free extract (NFE). The parameters measured were dry matter intake (DMI), dry matter digestibility (DMD), organic matter digestibility (OMD) and average daily gain (ADG). The treatments showed no significant effect on DMI, DMD, and OMD, whereas an increase of ADG (113.33 - 169.17 g/animal/day) was observed on all animals. One of R2-treated animal showed an increase of 276.67 g/day.