Effect of Supplementation with Dried Leaves of Acacia albida, Acacia seyal and their Mixture on Feed Intake and Digestibility of Local Sheep Fed Barley Straw as a Basal Diet

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of supplementation of Acacia Albida (AA), Acacia Seyal (AS) and their mixture on feed intake and digestibility of local sheep fed a basal diet of barley straw (BS)”. “Twenty four yearling intact male sheep with initial BW of 16.6 kg ± 2.4 (Mean ± SD)” were blocked in to six based on initial BW and animals within a block were randomly assigned to treatments. Treatments were ad libitum barley straw(BS) and 100 g wheat bran (WB) alone (T1) or supplemented with 200 g of dried leaves of Acacia Albida(AA) (T2), Acacia Seyal(AS) (T3) and a 1:1 mixture of AA:AS (T4). The feeding and digestibility trial “was” conducted for 90 and 7 days, respectively. Dry matter (DM) intake of BS was in the order of T1>T2=T4>T3 (P 0.05) by the supplementation. Therefore, result of the current study suggested that 200g AA leaf meal supplementation to barley straw basal diet to be better in feed intake and digestibility.