Utilization of malted sorghum sprout, shrimp waste meal and Tephrosia bracteolate hay by West African dwarf sheep fed soybean stover based diets

Abstract

In a completely randomized design, sixteen (16) West African Dwarf (WAD) rams aged between 10-15 months with an average pre-trial body weight of 14.5 kg were used to study the influence of a compounded concentrate diet (Diet 1), malted sorghum sprout (MSP) (Diet 2), shrimp waste meal (SWM) (Diet 3) and Tephrosia bracteolata hay (Diet 4) as supplement to soybean stover (SBS) + Panicum maximum hay for 13 weeks. The total DM intake was highest (P<0.05) for rams on Tephrosia bracteolata hay (153.89gd-1W0.75) and lowest for those on SWM (137.51gd-1W0.75). the highest (P<0.05) weight gain was recorded for sheep on Tephrosia (41.97gd-1) and lowest for SWM (13.73gd-1). The nitrogen retention of all the rams ranged between 68.53 and 70.65%. The DM digestibility ranged from 0.639 in SWM to 0.692 in concentrate diet. Organic matter digestibility ranged from 0.650 for SWM to 0.695 in concentrate while CP digestibility was 0.654 for SWM and 0.687 in Tephrosia. NDF digestibility varied between 0.563 in SWM and 0.6545 in MSP. Total serum protein (9.0g/dL), blood urea nitrogen(17.85mmol/L), cholesterol (158mg/dl) and plasma glucose (0.53 mmol/L) were significantly (P<0.05) increased in rams fed the concentrate (5.4g/dL, 11.06mmol/l, 15.6mg/dL, 0.38mmol/L), MSP (5.3g/dL, 10.7mmol/L, 152mg/dL, 0.3mmol/L) and Tephrosia (5.0g/dl, 9.63mmol/L, 143mg/dl, 0.3mm0l/L) in that order. It was concluded that these unconventional supplements could be fed with soybeans stover to improve feed intake, nutrient digestibility and nitrogen utilization leading to a better weight gain with sheep.