Napier or groundnut hay as supplements in diets of sheep consuming poor quality natural pasture hay 1. Effect on intake and digestibility

Abstract

Abstract Three experiments, each of a 5 × 5 Latin square design, were carried out using sheep to assess the effect of supplementing poor quality natural pasture (veld) hay with graded levels of napier or groundnut hay on intake and digestibility. In Expt 1, napier hay was fed at 0, 100, 200, 300 g/day or ad libitum. In Expt 2 the same levels of feeding were used with groundnut hay, while in Expt 3 napier and groundnut hay were each fed at 0, 150 or 300 g/day to enable a direct comparison of the two supplemental forages. All the forages used were chopped to a particle size of about 1 cm prior to feeding. The veld hay was supplemented with 1 percent urea and was always offered ad libitum. The forage supplements were fed separately. In all the experiments, the forage supplements increased total feed intake (P