Dry season feeding has always posed a problem for ruminant nutrition in sub-Saharan Africa. The availability of browse plants or multi-purpose trees during this period has led to their incorporation in the farming systems. The need therefore to investigate the feeding value and fermentation profiles of WAD sheep fed grass hay with supplemental Leucaena leucocephala formed the objective of this study. Eight 18-24 months old West African Dwarf (WAD) sheep (28.8 ± 4.2 kg body weight) were used in the study. Four of the sheep were fistulated ruminally and rumen pH, ammonia and volatile fatty acid were measured. Dried leaves of L. leucocephala were offered at two levels (25 and 50% of DMI, diets D25% and D50%, respectively) as supplement to a basal hay diet. The basal hay diet without supplement was the control diet. Diet D25% had a higher (p < 0.05) ruminal ammonia concentration than the control, while diet D50% had a higher (p < 0.05) total volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentration compared to both the control and D25% diets, respectively. Diet D25% had a marginal increase of 6.7% N-retention over the control diet. Organic matter digestibility (OMD) decreased (p < 0.05) with level of supplementation. Animals on D50%, D25% and the control diets lost 14, 7.3 and 5%, respectively, of retained energy leading to a negative energy balance. Overall results suggest that a 25% level of supplementation with leucaena gave the best outcome even though a range of 25-50% could be fed during periods of basal diet scarcity.
Twenty 8-week old crosses of New Zealand White X Chinchila weaner rabbits were used to assess the performance of rabbits fed diets with cassava peel replaced with maize on a graded level. Five d ets were formulated diets 1 (control), 2, 3, 4, and 5 in wh ch maize was replaced w th cassava peel at 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%, respectively. The 20 rabbits were used in a comp etely randomized design with ve treatments and four animal replicates per treatment. The trial lasted for 8 weeks. Parameters measured were feed intake, weight gain, feed conversion ratio and feed cost per kg. It was observed that there was no significant difference (P > 0 05) in the average daily feed intake of the rabbits fed diets 3 4 and 5 However, diets 3 4 and 5 had s gnificantly higher (P < 0.05) intake than d ets 1 and 2. Similarly rabbits on d ets 3, 4 and 5 had higher (P < 0 05) growth rates than those fed the control diet and d et 2 Feed cost per kg (N/kg) decreased from N35 33 in the control d et to N19.75 in d et 5. Cost of feed/kg live weight gain (N/day) decreased from N3.21 in the contro diet to N1.29 in diet 5. It was concluded that maize supplementation in the diets of weaner rabbits could be replaced by cassava peels up to 100 % without any adverse effect. However, 75% cassava peel replacement was found to be the optimum and therefore recommended.
The feeding value of Phyllanthus discoideus (also called Margaritaria discoidea) leaves was evaluated using eight two-year-old West African Dwarf sheep fed natural grass hay. Four of the animals were fistulated ruminally and used for ammonia and volatile fatty acid determination in the fluid. Dried leaves of Phyllanthus discoideus were offered at two levels (25% and 50% of DMI, diets D25% and D50%, respectively) as supplements to the basal hay diet. The CP content of the control, D25% and D50% diets were 11.5, 12.6 and 13.6%, respectively, and their digestible energy amounted to 58.2, 61.1 and 56.9%, respectively. Rumen liquor was sampled one hour before and one, three and five hours after the morning feeding. Sheep fed the control diet had a higher ruminal ammonia concentration than those fed diet D25%. Similarly, ruminal ammonia concentration was higher in sheep fed the control diet than those fed the diet D50%. Five hours after feeding the ruminal ammonia concentration was significantly lower than one hour after feeding. The VFA concentrations in rumen fluid of sheep fed the control diet was inferior to those fed diets D25% and D50%. Sheep fed diet D50% showed significantly higher VFA concentrations than those fed diet D25%. Digestibility of organic matter and digestible energy did not show any significant difference. However, a marginal increase in organic matter digestibility of 3.5% was observed in diet D25% compared with the control diet. There was no significant difference in the N-digestibility in sheep fed the control, D25% and D50% diets. Nevertheless, a marginal improvement in N-digestibility (1.5%) and N-retention (2.7%) was observed with the highest level of Phyllanthus discoideus (D50%). In conclusion, Phyllanthus discoideus appears as a particularly valuable feedstuff because it contains low levels of condensed tannins (12.8 g/kg), high CP content (156 g/kg) and a relatively high GE content (19.3 kJ/g DM). Although the improvement in N-digestibility and N-retention were only marginal the feeding of Phyllanthus discoideus could be justified under extreme shortage of feed resources during dry season. It should also be mentioned that a much more pronounced effect by supplementation with Phyllanthus discoideus could be expected when poor quality grass hay prevalent in West Africa during the dry season is fed. Phyllanthus discoideus could serve as a supplement to poor quality grass at 25% to 50% of supplementation.
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