Abstract
The study was conducted at Abergelle Agricultural Research Center, Ethiopia using 24 yearling intact male Abergelle sheep with initial body weight of 17.52 ± 1.13 kg. The objectives were to evaluate substitution of dried mulberry (Morus indica L.) leaf meal (DMLM) for concentrate mix (CM) on feed intake, digestibility, body weight gain and carcass characteristics, and to determine cost benefit analysis of the supplementary regimes. The study comprised 90 days of feeding trial, 7 days of digestibility trial and carcass evaluation at the end. Six sheep were randomly assigned to each treatment using randomized complete block design. The treatments included feeding of ad libitum natural grass hay and supplementation with 100% CM (T1); 75% CM + 25% DMLM (T2); 50% CM + 50% DMLM (T3) and 25% CM + 75% DMLM (T4) on DM basis. The supplements were prepared iso-nitrogenous and they were offered to meet daily CP requirements of 80.4, 95.7 and 108 g for rams with body weight of 15, 20 and 25 kg, respectively. At beginning of experiment, amount of supplements provided were 439.49, 440.51, 440.75 and 440.50 g on DM basis for T1, T2, T3 and T4, respectively. The CM contained noug seed cake (NSC) and wheat bran (WB) at ratio of 19.28: 80.72, 14.14: 60.86, 9.04: 40.96 and 3.92: 21.08 for T1, T2, T3 and T4, respectively. The CP content of grass hay, WB, NSC and DMLM were 7.20, 16.80, 33.40 and 20.20%, respectively. The OM, CP, NDF, ADF and ADL intakes and digestibilities were similar among treatments but, hay and total DM intakes as well as DM digestibility were significantly higher (p<0.05) in T3 than T1. Calculated ME was greater (p<0.01) in T3 and T2 than T4 but similar in T1, T2 and T3. There was no significant differences among treatments for feed conversion efficiency, final body weight, ADG and most carcass parameters measured. The partial budget analysis showed that T4 had highest economical gain. Therefore, T4 is recommended on both biologically and economically efficient supplementary regime for Abergelle sheep. Key words: Economical gain, feed conversion efficiency, isonitrogenous, noug seed cake, wheat bran.
Highlights
There are about 1.82 and 29.33 million sheep in Tigray region and Ethiopia, respectively (CSA, 2015)
Natural grass hay was harvested from Abyi-Adi skill development and training center in Kola Tembien district while the mulberry leaves were collected from both farmers and forage nursery site in Tanqua Abergelle district during September
Chemical analysis of representative samples of feed offer, hay refusals, and feces for dry matter (DM), Ash, crude fiber (CF), ether extract (EE) and nitrogen (N) content were analyzed using the procedures outlined by AOAC (2005)
Summary
There are about 1.82 and 29.33 million sheep in Tigray region and Ethiopia, respectively (CSA, 2015). Even though the sheep population provided considerable roles to both smallholder farmers and the country’s economy but their present contribution is far below their potential. This is because productivity of sheep is hampered by many factors. Concentrate feeds (agro-industrial by products) have a good potential of supplementation value but in most developing countries like Ethiopia concentrates are expensive, are in short supply and may not be accessible to smallholder farmers (Tolera et al, 2000). Though the availability has not been well quantified, large numbers of mulberry trees are present in different areas of Ethiopia in Tigray region. The objectives of the study were to evaluate substitution of dried mulberry (Morus indica L.) leaf meal (DMLM) for concentrate mix (CM) on feed intake, digestibility, body weight gain and carcass characteristics of Abergelle sheep as well as to determine cost benefit analysis of the supplementary regimes
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