INTAKE, DIGESTIBILITY, GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND CARCASS CHARACTERISTICS OF HORRO SHEEP FED ELEPHANT GRASS (Pennisetum purpureum) ENSILED WITH DIFFERENT PROPORTION OF DOLICHOS LABLAB (Lablab purpureus

Abstract

The study was conducted at Bako Agricultural Research Center with the aim to evaluate the effects of Elephant grass ensiled with different proportion of Dolichos lablab on intake, digestibility, body weight gain and carcass parameters. Elephant grass was harvested after eight weeks of regrowth during rainy season and Dolichos lablab harvested at 50% blooming stage and both forages were chopped and weighed separately, mixed, added with 3% molasses and ensiled in pit. A total of twenty intact male yearling Horro sheep were stratified into four groups based on initial body weight in randomized complete block design and assigned to the dietary treatments randomly. Dietary treatments arranged as T1, T2, T3 and T4 for Elephant grass ensiled alone, with 10, 20 and 30% of Dolichos lablab respectively. Lambs in all treatments were supplemented with wheat bran at 1.5% body weight. The study comprised 90 days of feeding trial followed by 7 days of digestibility trial and evaluation of carcass parameters at the end. The dry matter content of the silage increased from 30.14 to 35.34, crude protein content from 8.75 to 12.38 for T1 to T4 respectively. However, it contained 15.15, 14.30 and 50.70% lower NDF, ADF and ADL concentration respectively. The total DM intake of lambs fed T4 diets were greater by 19.53, 7.83 and 3.56%, whereas the total CP intake was higher by 31.15%, 17.36%, and 9.66% than T1, T2 and T3, respectively. Higher ADL and lower ADF intake were observed for lambs fed T1 diet. The DM Digestibility of lambs fed T4 diets were increased by 17.59%, 10.09% and 6.18% than lambs T1, T2 and T3 diets respectively. Lambs fed diet in T4 had higher digestibility of CP and NDF than those Lambs in T3, T2 and T1 with comparable values of NDF obtained in T4 and T3. The lowest ADF digestibility was recorded for lambs fed in T1 diet with similar values among other groups. Lambs fed T4 diet had greater final body weight and show more daily growth by 55.66, 39.37 and 25.56 g/day than T1, T2 and T3, respectively. The higher value in FCE was obtained from lambs fed T4 diet followed by T3 > T2 > T1 diets in that order. Increasing the inclusion levels of Dolichos lablab in the Elephant grass silage significantly increased slaughter weight (P<0.01), empty weight, hot carcass weight (P<0.001), hind and fore quarter, dressing percentage on slaughter and empty body weight basis and rib eye muscle area (P<0.05). The dietary treatments significantly influenced (P<0.05) weight of tail, heart, liver with gall bladder, omasum-abomasum, large and small intestine, head with tongue and total edible offal components. Feeding of ensiled Elephant grass with different proportion of Dolichos lablab significantly affected weight of skin, gut contents and head without tongue of Horro lambs whereas, the rest parameters of non-edible offal components were not influenced. Therefore, addition of 20-30% Dolichos lablab in Elephant grass silage enhance the nutritive value of Elephant grass silage thereby, increasing the nutrient intake and digestibility for better growth and carcass yields of sheep.