Performance, digestibility and nitrogen utilization of West African dwarf sheep fed Panicum maximum with supplemental legume pellets

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of supplementing legume pellets in the diets of West African dwarf (WAD) rams. Twenty West Africa dwarf (WAD) rams of the average body weight of 12.43 ± 0.5 kg were allocated to four treatment: sole Panicum maximum (diet 1), P. maximum supplemented with Lablab purpureus pellets (diet 2), P. maximum supplemented with Calopogonium mucunoides pellets (diet 3) and P. maximum supplemented with Mucuna pruriens pellets (diet 4) arranged in a completely randomized design. Panicum maximum was offered to the animals ad libitum and legume pellets were fed at 5 % of their body weight. The feeding trial lasted 12 weeks and metabolic trial for two weeks. Nutrient intake, weight gain, nutrient digestibility and nitrogen utilization of the experimental animals were assessed. Obtained data were subjected to one-way analysis of variance. Among the rams supplemented with legume pellets, rams fed M. pruriens pellets had the highest (P < 0.05) nutrient intake (963.97 g). The highest (P < 0.05) weight gain was recorded for rams fed L. purpureus pellets (7.03 kg). Rams fed L. purpureus pellets had the highest (P < 0.05) dry matter (76.79 %) and crude protein digestibility (82.61 %) while the lowest (P < 0.05) was recorded for rams fed sole P. maximum. Nitrogen retention ranged from 38.90 % for rams fed sole P. maximum to 60.77 % for rams fed supplemented L. purpureus pellets. It can be concluded from this study that rams fed supplemented L. purpureus pellets gave the highest performance in weight gain, nutrient digestibility and nitrogen utilization.