Leucaena and dried poultry waste improve the performance of West African Dwarf sheep on a grass diet

Abstract

This study investigated the effects on digestibility and growth when West African Dwarf (WAD) sheep were fed a basal diet of Tripsacum laxum with Leucaena leucocephala or dried poultry waste as supplement. Fifteen WAD sheep (12 rams and 3 ewes) were randomly allocated to three dietary treatments of 5 animals each, namely T1-basal diet of chopped T. laxum (control), T2-basal diet plus dried poultry waste, and T3-basal diet plus L. leucocephala. Animals had access to drinking water and a mineral mix ad libitum. They were weighed weekly after a 2-week adaptation period, for a duration of 12 weeks. At the end of the feeding trial, three rams randomly selected from each treatment group were used for the digestibility study. Results revealed that average daily intake of L. leucocephala (350.0 ± 0.3 g/animal) was higher than that of dried poultry waste (260.0 ± 0.1 g/animal). The supplemented groups, T2 and T3, gained 21.4 and 31.0 g daily respectively, while animals of the control group (T1) lost 6.0 g daily. There was a significant difference (P<0.01) in dry matter intake between the control and supplemented groups, with T2 recording the highest intake. Organic matter intake of treatment 3 was significantly (P<0.01) higher than that of T1 and T2. The differences in crude fibre (CF) ingestion between T2 and T1 as well as T3 and T1 were significant (P<0.01), with the highest ingestion of CF occurring in T1. The dry matter digestibility of the supplemented groups was significantly higher (P<0.05) than that of the control. The organic matter digestibility of T2 and T3, as well as T1 and T3 were significantly different (P<0.05), being highest in T3 (77.0 ± 2.1 %) and lowest in T2 (58.1 ± 1.0 %) It was concluded from the study that T. laxum can be better utilized in West African Dwarf sheep when supplemented with dried poultry waste or L. leucocephala.