Feed intake and utilization in sheep fed graded levels of dried moringa (Moringa stenopetala) leaf as a supplement to Rhodes grass hay

Abstract

The effects of feeding graded levels of dried moringa (Moringa stenopetala) leaf on intake, body weight gain (BWG), digestibility and nitrogen utilization were studied using male sheep (BW of 13.8±0.12 kg). Six sheep were randomly allocated to each of the four treatment diets: Rhodes grass (Chloris gayana) hay offered ad libitum (T1), hay+150 g moringa leaf (T2), hay+300 g moringa leaf (T3), hay+450 g moringa leaf (T4) were offered daily. A 7-day digestibility trial and an 84-day growth experiments were conducted. Dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM) and crude protein (CP) intakes increased (P<0.05) with increasing levels of moringa leaf in the diets. Sheep fed T2, T3 and T4 diets gained (P<0.05) 40.2, 79.1 and 110.1 g/head/day, respectively, while the control group (T1) lost weight (−13.3 g/head/day). The apparent digestibilities of DM, OM, neutral detergent fibre and acid detergent fibre were similar (P>0.05) among treatments. The digestibility of dietary CP increased (P<0.05) with increasing levels of moringa leaf, but there was no significant difference between T2 and T3 diets. The nitrogen (N) intake and urinary N excretion increased (P<0.05) with increasing levels of moringa leaf. The N retention was highest (P<0.05) for 450 g moringa leaf supplementation. The control group was in a negative N balance. Supplementing a basal diet of Rhodes grass hay with dried moringa leaves improved DM intake, BWG and N retention. It is concluded that M. stenopetala can serve as a protein supplement to low-quality grass during the dry season under smallholder sheep production system.

The Effect of Supplementing Air-Dried Moringa stenopetala Leaf to Natural Grass Hay on Feed Intake and Growth Performances of Arsi-Bale Goats

“…The findings are consistent to those of [5] and [12] who reported increased body weight values in sheep receiving supplement containing M. stenopetala leaf meals. Studies by [33] also indicated linear increase in body weight of sheep supplemented with Gliricdia sepium leaf meal when fed a basal diet of elephant grass and Rhodes grass.…”

“…Sánchez [11] observed increased intake in cows supplemented with M. oleifera leaves to a basal diet of grass hay. Similar results have also been reported by [12] and [32] who found that supplementation of sheep with M. stenopetala fed with a basal diet of grass hay improved intake of DM, OM, and CP. The increased DM, OM, and CP intake with increasing levels of M. stenopetala supplementation may possibly be due to the lower fiber and higher CP contents of the leaves thereby enhancing the palatability of the feed.…”

“…According to the report of [11], supplementation of fresh Moringa oleifera leaves has resulted in the improvement of milk yield in crossbred cattle. Promising results have been obtained from inclusion of air-dried M. stenopetala leaf supplementation to the basal diet of sheep [12] and growing chicken [8,13]. However, information on the feeding value of M. stenopetala leaf on the performance of goats in the tropical countries, particularly in Ethiopian, is lacking.…”

Potential of Moringa oleifera L. as livestock fodder crop: a review

“…Less importance has been given to other species belonging to the family Moringaceae. A few researchers have evaluated the potential of Moringa stenopetala as livestock fodder (Abuye et al 2003;Jiru et al 2006;Gebregiorgis et al 2012). It is reported that M. stenopetala leaves have high CP contents (9% of DM), 280 mg kg -1 of vitamin C, and 160 mg kg -1 of β-carotene contents with iron and calcium contents of 30.8 and 7928 mg kg -1 , respectively (Abuye et al 2003).…”

Moringa oleifera: an alternative forage of multiple uses for the Brazilian semiarid

“…Gebregiorgis et al (2012), analyzing the consumption of low quality Rhodes grass hay supplemented with increasing levels of dry leaves of moringa (0, 150, 300 and 450 g) in sheep in Ethiopia, obtained increases in dry matter, organic matter and crude protein intake, weight gain (-13.3, 40.2, 79.1 and 110.1 g head -1 day -1 ) and apparent CP digestibility with the inclusion of increasing levels of supplementation with moringa leaves, respectively. Therefore, moringa can serve as a protein supplement during the dry season in sheep production systems.…”