Abstract
A 90 day study on evaluating quantity and quality of manure from small ruminants in the Guinea Savannah agro-ecological zone of Ghana was conducted. 36 goats and 36 sheep were randomly allotted to three dietary treatments - Basal diets of maize stover, cassava and yam peels as Treatment one (T1), T1 supplemented with cowpea residues as Treatment two (T2) and T1 supplemented with groundnut residues as Treatment three (T3) in a randomized complete block design. Feed composition and intake and manure characteristics were assessed and data analyzed statistically using Generalized Linear Model procedures of SAS at 5% significance level. The Chemical composition of feed resources ranged from 3.2-17.3% crude protein, 82-97.2% organic matter and 2.8-18% ash. Total feed intake ranged from 519.55-659.72 g/day and 331.84-420.17 g/day for sheep and goats respectively. Sheep manure weighed 319.17-423.33 g/day and contained 20.74-29.01% carbon, 1.87-2.32% nitrogen, 0.77-3.00 potassium, 9.52-26.50% ash, 0.44-0.77 pH and C:N ratio of 10.98-15.53. Goat manure weighed 178.67-216.17 g/day with 19.58-30.61%, 1.56-2.21% nitrogen, 0.82-2.33% potassium, 10.75-19.80% ash, 0.37-1.47 pH and C:N ratio of 9.49-19.92. Results indicated that manure from small ruminants could serve as alternative source of fertilizer in Ghana since its characteristics compare well with chemical fertilizers. Keywords: sheep; goats; feed resources; manure; fertilizers
Highlights
Smallholder farmers in potentially high agricultural areas often mine soil nutrients through crop extraction, weed removal, grazing livestock, cutting forage to feed livestock or selling fodder (Powell et al, 2004)
Stratified sampling technique was employed to sample cereal and legume crop farmers, who rear small ruminant. 12 farmers comprising six farmers from Atebubu and another six farmers from Amantin were selected for the study
The locational effect tended to approach significance for the weight of manure produced by sheep (p=0.0636) but was different for percent carbon (p=0.0288), carbon to nitrogen ratio (p=0.0188), pH (p=0.0009), potassium (p
Summary
Smallholder farmers in potentially high agricultural areas often mine soil nutrients through crop extraction, weed removal, grazing livestock, cutting forage to feed livestock or selling fodder (Powell et al, 2004). Low soil fertility is the most important constraint limiting crop productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa (Gicheru, 2012; Fischer & Qaim, 2012). In Ghana, for instance, almost all nutrient balances, that is, the difference between the quantities of plant nutrients applied and the quantities removed or lost, show a nutrient deficit (FAO, 2004) since. Ansah et al (2019) Ghana Jnl. Agric. Sci. 54 (1), 67 - 76 nutrient depleting cultivation practices are still used extensively
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