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Digestibility and feeding trials for 10 and 90 days were conducted using 25 yearling Farta rams with a mean body weight (BW) of 16.8 +/- 0.17 kg (mean +/- SD) to study the effects of supplementation with sole or mixtures of noug seed meal (NSM) and wheat bran (WB) on feed intake, digestibility and BW change in Farta sheep fed hay. The experimental design was a randomized complete block design. The sheep were arranged in five blocks based on initial BW, and the five treatments were assigned randomly to each animal in a block. The five treatments comprised of ad libitum hay (control, T1) and ad libitum hay plus daily supplementation of 300 g dry matter (DM) sole WB (T2), 2WB:1NSM (T3), 1WB:2NSM (T4) and sole NSM (T5). Supplementation increased total DM (P < 0.01) and crude protein (CP) (P < 0.001) intake and promoted daily BW gain (P < 0.001). Non- supplemented sheep consumed more (P < 0.01) hay DM compared to the supplemented treatments, except T2. Among supplemented sheep, T5 had higher (P < 0.001) CP intake than the other treatments. Supplementation improved (P < 0.001) the digestibility of CP. Lack of statistical differences in daily BW gain between the different supplements used in this study suggests that sheep producers can use the different feed supplements considered in this study depending on their availability in the order of T4, T5, T3 and T2, respectively.

The study was conducted in Abergelle district of Tigray, northern Ethiopia with the objectives of evaluating the chemical composition, in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) and in sacco degradability characteristics of foliages of major browse species. Samples of foliages from 12 and 10 browse species were collected during the wet and dry seasons, respectively. The samples of the browse species were collected based on their abundance in the district, preference by livestock to browse them, accessibility to browsing and their additional uses other than livestock feed. The neutral detergent fiber (NDF) was higher in the browse species during the wet compared to the dry season except for Sterculia africana and Ziziphus spina-christi. Similar trends were observed for acid detergent fiber (ADF) content except for Acacia asak. The condensed tannins content and the IVDMD of the browse species had inverse relationships in both seasons. The in sacco dry matter (DM) and nitrogen degradability parameters of the browse species were seasonally variable. Based on in sacco potential DM and nitrogen degradation of the browse species in both seasons, Acacia oerfota, Acacia tortilis, Balanites aegyptiaca, Boswellia papyrifera, Sterculia africana, Terminalia brownii and Ziziphus spina-christi were ranked to be superior in their nutritive value, and thus can have better use as animal feeds. Consequently, these browse species could be considered in agro-forestry systems for better integration of livestock production with available feed resources in semi-arid areas.

The study was conducted to determine the effect of supplementation with rice bran (RB) and /or noug seed (Guizotia abyssinica) meal (NSM) on feed intake, digestibility, and body weight (BW) change in hay based feeding of Farta sheep. Twenty five yearling Farta rams with a mean initial BW of 19.23 +/- 0.28 kg were used in randomized complete block design arranged into five blocks of five animals. The five dietary treatments that consisted of hay alone (T(1)), hay + RB (T(2)), hay + mixture of RB and NSM at a ratio of 1:2 (T(3)), hay + mixture of RB and NSM at a ratio of 2:1 (T(4)) and hay + NSM (T(5)) were randomly assigned to each sheep within a block. The supplements were daily offered at 300 g dry matter (DM) head(-1) in two equal parts at 800 and 1600 h. Supplementation improved the total DM and acid detergent fiber (ADF) intake (P < 0.05), organic matter (OM) intake (P < 0.01), crude protein (CP) intake (P < 0.001). The apparent digestibility of DM in T(5) was higher (P < 0.05) than in T(1) and T(2) and that of T(4) was also higher (P < 0.05) than in T(1). The apparent digestibility of CP in T(5) and T(4) were higher (P < 0.001) than in T(1) and T(2) and that of T(3) and T(2) were also higher (P < 0.001) than for T(1). The BW gain of experimental sheep was improved (P < 0.01) by supplementation with NSC (T(5)) and/or its mixtures with RB (T(3) and T(4)). The results of the study showed that supplementation with either of both mixtures of NSM and RB at 43% of total DM intake promoted better feed intake, digestibility and BW gain in Farta sheep.