Feed Intake, Growth Performance and Carcass Characteristics of West African Dwarf Sheep Fed Moringa oleifera, Gliricidia sepium or Cassava Fodder as Supplements to Panicum maximum | Chapter 05 | Advances and Trends in Agricultural Sciences Vol. 2
The performance and carcass
characteristics of West African dwarf (WAD) sheep fed Panicum maximum
supplemented with Moringa oleifera, Gliricidia sepium or cassava fodder, were
investigated in a randomized complete block and completely randomized design
experiments respectively. Twenty four growing WAD sheep (10.7 kg average live
weight) were randomly allotted to four dietary treatments: 1: 100% P. maximum
(control), 2: 75% P. maximum + 25% M. oleifera, 3: 75% P. maximum + 25% G.
sepium, 4: 75% P. maximum + 25% Cassava leaves. Dry matter (DM) intake (g/kgW0.75/day)
ranged between 74.6 for treatment 4 and 92.7 for treatment 3. Crude protein
(CP) intake in treatment 3 was higher than in treatments 1 and 4. Growth rate
ranged between 6.53 g/day to 12.74 g/day for treatments 1 and 4 respectively
while treatments 2 and 4 had better feed conversion ratio than treatment 1.
Average dressing percentage was 33.9% and there was no significant difference
in the carcass characteristics among the various treatments. It was concluded
that Moringa oleifera is a suitable alternative to Gliricidia sepium as
supplement in small ruminant diets.
Author(s) Details
A. A. Fadiyimu
Department of Animal Health
and Production, Federal College of Agriculture, Akure, Nigeria.
J. A. Alokan
Department of Animal
Production and Health, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria.
A. N. Fajemisin
Department of Animal
Production and Health, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria.
G. E. Onibi
Department of Animal
Production and Health, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria.
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