Feed Intake, Digestibility and Growth Performance of Horro Lambs Fed Natural Pasture Hay Supplemented Graded Level of <i>Vernonia amygdalina</i> Leaves and Sorghum Grain Mixture

Abstract

Article Information This study was undertaken with the objectives of evaluating the effect of dried and ground Vernonia (V. amygdalina) leaves and ground sorghum (S. bicolor) grain mixture supplementation on feed intake, digestibility, body weight change, feed conversion efficiency of Horro lambs fed a basal diet of natural pasture hay. The feeding and digestibility trials were conducted using twenty male lambs of similar yearling age and average body weight of 15.4 ±0.58kg. The lambs were blocked into five blocks of four animals each based on their initial body weight and randomly allocated to four dietary treatments from each block giving five animals per treatment. Treatment 1 was fed on grass hay alone, while treatments 2, 3, and 4 received graded levels (150, 300 and 450g, respectively) of a mixture of dried and ground Vernonia leaves and ground sorghum grain mixture as supplements to the grass hay basal diet. Supplementation with dried Vernonia leaves and sorghum grain mixture improved feed intake, nutrient digestibility and body weight gain of the lambs as compared to the unsupplemented animals. The body weight gain of the lambs was lowest in T1 (7.6g/day), intermediate in T2 (40 g/day) and highest in T3 (81.3 g/day) and T4 (93.8 g/day) (P < 0.01). It was concluded that supplementation of vernonia leaves and sorghum grain mixture improved feed intake and digestibility of the diet and body weight gain of the lambs. In general increased performance was observed with increasing level of supplementation. However, cost-benefit analysis is required to determine the optimum level of supplementation, particularly as the level of supplementation exceeds 300 g. Article History: Received : 29-03-2013 Revised : 25-06-2013 Accepted : 27-06-2013