An experiment was conducted in 2009, 2010 and 2011 dry seasons to investigate the use of lablab (Lablab purpureus L. Sweet) as alternative forage legume for use in maize-legume intercrop under 3 irrigation regimes. Lablab was harvested for forage yield from 6 to 18 weeks after seeding. Forage yield and quality of lablab at different ages of growth and irrigation frequency, as well as maize grain yield and yield components were measured. Plant height of maize and number of leaves of lablab were not affected (P > 0.05) by years of trial. Plant stand count of lablab, number of leaves of maize, plant height of lablab, and LAI of maize and lablab differed (P < 0.05) with years of trial. Irrigation frequency did not affect (P < 0.05) number of leaves of maize and lablab. There were significant (P < 0.05) interactions between age of cutting x year of trial x irrigation schedule on dry forage yield of lablab. Age of cutting had no effect (P > 0.05) on forage Mg and Na contents of lablab. The CP contents of lablab at 15 and 18 WAS were lower (P < 0.05) than the CP at 6 WAS. The forage CF, NDF, ADF, EE and NFE differed (P < 0.05). Except ADF and Ca: P, measured nutrients did not differ (P > 0.05) with irrigation frequency. The maize grain yield was higher (P < 0.05) in 2010 and 2011 (1722-1726 kg/ha) than 2009 (1412 kg/ha). Results from this study suggest that lablab could be introduced as a component crop in an intercropping system with maize under irrigation in Nigeria.

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of breed, chilling duration and processed product on the quality characteristics of mutton. A total of nine (9) mature rams of 12 months of age (25 Kg) managed on the same system were used. The animals were kept for 24 hours where only water was provided to clear the gut content before slaughter. The experiment was carried out in a factorial arrangement (3 x 3 x 3) of a completely randomized design consisting of three breeds of sheep (Balami, Uda and Yankasa), three chilling durations (0, 24 and 48 hours) and three processed products (Balangu, Tsire and Tukunya). The result revealed that there was no significant (P>0.05) effect of breed on proximate composition of fresh mutton. There was significant (P<0.05) effect of processed product on the proximate composition of mutton. Moisture content was higher in Balangu (54.93 %), followed by Tukunya (51.74 %) and lower in Tsire (41.00 %). Crude protein content was higher in Balangu (33.83 %), followed by Tukunya (29.63 %) which was at par wih Tsire (29.51 %). Ash content was higher in Tsire (6.61 %), followed by Balangu (5.71 %) and lower in Tukunya (3.69 %). Significant (P<0.05) chilling duration effect was obtained for bacteria count which was higher at 0 hours (2.25 x 103 cfu/g) chilling, followed by 24 hours (1.86 x 103 cfu/g) chilling. The same trend was observed for coliform count in which higher value was obtained at 0 hours (4.49 x 102 cfu/g) chilling, followed by 24 hours (3.04 x 102 cfu/g) chilling and 48 hours (2.93 x 102 cfu/g) chilling. Sensory properties of mutton from different breed differed significantly (P<0.05) among processed products. The overall accepatability indicates that Tsire (7.60) product was more acceptable, followed by Tukunya (7.20) product while Balangu (6.86) product was less acceptable. The microbial count obtained from the study was within the acceptable range (< 3.5 log HACCP 2002). It can be concluded that processed meat products (Tsire, Balangu and Tukunya) obtained from different breeds of Nigerian sheep (Balami, Uda and Yankasa) were not homogenous in their proximate composition. It is therefore recommended that fresh mutton should be chilled for 24 to 48 hours with little or no bacteria while fresh meat from the three breed of sheep (Balami, Uda and Yankasa) can be chilled for 24 to 48 hours with little or no bacteria and can be processed into different products (Tsire, Balangu and Tukunya).

The use of browse plants as supplement have been shown to enhance intake, improve growthrate and increase reproduction in ruminants. However, most of these forage trees have notbeen widely used because they often contain anti-nutritional compounds that havedeleterious effects on animal performance Moringa oleifera and Gmelina arborea arewidely distributed in many locations in the tropics. Moringa oleifera and Gmelina arboreaare promising plants which could contribute to increased intake of some essential nutrientsand health-promoting phytochemicals and also provide cheaper alternative forages of highquality for ruminants. The study was carried out to investigate the effect of mixed Gmelinaarborea and Moringa oleifera (GMMO) leaf meal inclusion on the growth performance andblood profile of goats fed Digitaria smutsii hay based diets. Twenty intact Red Sokoto bucksbetween 4-5 months of age with an average weight of 12.00 kg were used. The bucks wererandomly allocated to four treatments with five animals per treatment in a completelyrandomized design. Gmelina arborea and Moringa oleifera leaf meals were mixed at ratio of75 and 25% respectively and included at 0, 10, 20 and 30% in a 40% Digitaria smutsii haybase. Each level of inclusion serves as a dietary treatment. The parameters measured werefeed intake, body weight gain, haematological and biochemical constituents. Feed cost andproximate analysis of GMMO were also carried out. The results showed that inclusion ofGMMO leaf meal improved dry matter intake of bucks. Dry matter intake ranged from310.28 g/d in T to 372.61 g/d in T . Weight gain and average daily gain were significant 1 3(P<0.05) higher in bucks fed 20% GMMO leaf meal (4.20kg and 46.67 g/d) respectively thanthe other treatments. Regression analysis showed 25% inclusion as the optimal level ofGMMO leaf meal inclusion in the diets of growing bucks. The haematological andbiochemical parameters of Red Sokoto bucks measured were within the normal range forhealthy goats. The cost-benefit analysis showed that goats fed 20% GMMO leaf meal gavemore profit than those on other treatments. Net profit was highest in 20% followed by 30%,10% and 0% inclusion (N1108.30, N 853.90, N506.20 and N485.00) respectively. This studyconcludes that the mixture of gmelina and moringa leaf meal can be included at 25% in thediets of Red Sokoto bucks for improved productivity.

Thirty (30) growing rabbits of mixed breeds and sexes with an average initial weight of 526.92±0.25g  ere used for this study to determine the effect of level of inclusion of Ziziphus leaf meal (ZLM) in concentrate diet on the performance of growing rabbits. The experiment was in a completely randomized design involving five treatments, which represented five diets with 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40% levels of ZLM inclusion. Significant differences (p<0.05) were observed in weight gains, feed intake and feed:gain ratios. Treatment 2 had the highest weight gain (though not significantly different (p>0.05) from treatment 1 and the best feed /gain values.The cost benefit analysis shows a 40.51 % reduction in the cost of feed, following a 10 % inclusion of ZLM in the diet (T2) over the control (T1), while 46.35 and 47.94 % reduction were observed following 20 and 30 % ZLM inclusion (T3 and T4) respectively. In term of apparent profit made, T1 recorded the highest profit (N 35.29) over all other treatments, which was followed by T2 (N30.49), T3 (N15.11) and T4 recorded the least (N 12.99). Inclusion of RHSM in the diet of rabbits resulted in reduction in the cost of feed and feed cost efficiency. From the results obtained it was concluded that  dried ZLM could be incorporated up to 30% in the diets of growing rabbits without any adverse effect on their performance.

Four Red Sokoto bucks of averageweight 17. 40±2kg were fed sugarcane scrappingmeal in a complete diet to evaluate the nutrients intake, digestibility and nitrogen balance. In a 4×4 Latin Square Design four dietary treatments containing sugarcane scrapping at 0, 10, 20, and 30% levels of inclusion supplementing wheat offal in a complete diet were used The proximate composition of the sugarcane scrapping showed that the scrapping had, 10.01, 2.98%and 3114 Kcal/Kg of CF, CP andME respectively. The results of the trial showed that significant high dry matter intake, nutrient digestibility of some and the nitrogen balance values were recorded in the bucks fed 30%. It was concluded that DM intake, nutrient digestibility and nitrogen utilization of bucks can be enhanced by including 30% of sugar cane scrapping in their diets.

Crotalaria as a feed has great ability to serve as a source of energy and protein in dry season feeding due to the fact that it has good crude protein content comparable to other well-known forage legumes. The study was designed to evaluate the nutritive compositions of Crotalaria retusa leaves subjected to various processing. The processing methods that the crotalaria leaves were subjected to include: sun drying, oven drying, shade drying and fresh, and thereafter, the chemical analysis of the variously processed leaves was determined. Similarly, the rumen degradation was determined. The results showed a significant difference in the fresh leaves for all the parameters determined. Dry matter degradability showed a general increase with increase in the incubation time, and there was also a general decrease in passage rate with increase in outflow rate ('k' value). Sun drying reduces the protein content for ruminant use as such Crotalaria can serve as a source of protein for ruminants especially in dry season when there is scarcity of protein sources for ruminants.

A trial was conducted to investigate the germination percentage and emergence potential of nine imported temperate forage germplasms at the National Animal Production Research Institute, Shika, Nigeria. The seeds consisted of seven grasses namely; Beefsteak plant (Fructus perillae), Sweet elephant grass (Pennisetum alopecuroides), Wild foxtail millet (Setaria viridis), Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum), King grass (Pennisetum sinese), Chinese sorghum (Sweet sorghum) and Zea mexican schard (Purus frumentum) and two legumes namely; Chinese woad (Isatis tinctoria) and Chinese alfalfa (Medicago sativa). A laboratory germination test and pot emergence trial was carried out to ascertain their viability. The result of the experiment showed that Sweet elephant grass, napier grass and king grass recorded over 90 % germination and the least was 30 % in Chinese sorghum. Chinese alfalfa and wild foxtail millet had least germination percentage with 100 % Seed dormancy.Highest emergence rate, seedling length and seedling vigour indexwere observed in king grass than the other forage germplasms. The highest percentage emergence was obtained in king grass > sweet elephant grass > napier grass > Zea mexican schard > beefsteak plant > Chinese woad > Chinese sorghum, respectively. It was concluded that these forages can successfully be adopted as animal feed resources in Nigeria and therefore, recommended formulti-locational trials in all the ecological zones of the country.

An experiment was carried out to evaluate two temperate forage legumes (Trifolium pratense and Trifolium repens) and two tropical forage legumes (Stylosanthes guianensis and Centrosema molle) for hay intake and digestibility in the cool tropical climate of Vom, Jos, Plateau State of Nigeria. The legumes were planted in the month of June, 2016 and harvested at early-podding stage for hay. Sixteen (16) growing male New Zealand White rabbits were used for the digestibility study. The rabbits were arranged in a Completely Randomised Design and in individual cages measuring 55 cm x 39 cm x 40 cm. Nutrient contents, intake and digestibility in rabbits were determined. Crude protein content was significantly (P<0.01) higher in T. repens (18.38%) compared to T. pratense (16.50 %), whereas S. guianensis produced the least value of 13.83%. The crude fibre content of the hay was significantly higher (P<0.0I) in S. guianensis (37.29 %) compared to the other forage legumes. Dry matter intake was significantly (P<0.01) higher in rabbits fed T. repens (77.88%) compared to T. pratense (76.57%), and the lowest value of 62.97% was obtained in S. guianensis. Crude protein intake was significantly (P<0.01) higher in rabbits fed T. repens (15.05 g d-1) compared to those fed T. pratense (12.71 g d-1), but S. guianensis had the least value of 8.64 g d-1. On the other hand, rabbits fed S. guianensis hay had a higher (P<0.01) crude fibre intake (23.39%). Trifolium repens was significantly (P<0.01) higher in dry matter and crude protein digestibility (64.79 and 85. 88 %), while S. guianensis had lower values of 56.89 and 71.33%, respectively. Trifolium repens also had a significantly (P<0.01) higher total nitrogen intake and retained compared to the other forage legumes. Nitrogen retained in T. repens was 2.40 g d-1 compared to 1.87 g d-1 in T. pretense, while S. guianensis had the lowest of 1.34 g d-1. The temperate forage legume hays were higher in nutrient content, intake and digestibility compared to the tropical legume hays. Therefore, the forage crops may serve as better supplementary feeds for livestock feeding especially during the dry season.