EFFECT OF PARTIAL REPLACEMENT OF GROUNDNUT CAKE WITH GUAR MEAL ON BLOOD BIOCHEMICAL PROFILE IN SHEEP FED DENSIFIED CROP RESIDUE BASED COMPLETE FEED BLOCKS

Abstract

A 120 day trial was conducted to evaluate the effect of replacement of 50% Groundnut cake (GNC) nitrogen with guar meal (GM) on the blood biochemical profile in the ram lambs fed maize and sorghum stover based complete feed blocks. Twenty-four growing ram lambs of 3-4 months age were randomly selected and allocated into 4 groups consisting of 6 animals in each group. The Maize and sorghum stover based complete diets (50 roughage: 50 concentrate) with and without inclusion of GM was prepared and densified into block form and fed to ram lambs. The four dietary treatments were: M1: Maize stover based complete feed blocks (MSCFB) with GNC (34.8% CP) as protein supplement; M 2: MSCFB with guar meal (52 % CP) replacing 50 % GNC nitrogen of M1; S1: sorghum stover based complete feed blocks (SSCFB) with GNC as protein supplement and S2: SSCFB with guar meal replacing 50 % of GNC nitrogen of S2. Blood was drawn at the end of the trial for serum collection and serum metabolites were analyzed according to standard procedures. There was no significant (P>0.05) effect on the concentration of all serum biochemical constituents among the different experimental groups of lambs and all serum biochemical constituents had mean values that were within the normal range. According to the findings of this investigation, replacing 50% GNC nitrogen with GM had no detrimental effect on blood biochemical parameters in lambs.