Abstract:
A study was conducted to evaluate effect of supplementation of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.)
hay and urea molasses block on feed Intake, digestibility, body weight change and carcass
characteristics of yearling local sheep fed with grass hay as basal diet. Twenty-four yearling
intact male local sheep with mean initial body weight of 23.9±1.9 (Mean ± SD) were used in
completely randomized block design. Treatments were grass hay fed ad libitum to all
treatments plus 1% of live weight alfalfa hay (T1), 1.5% of live weight alfalfa hay (T2), 2.0%
of live weight alfalfa hay (T3), and all the three treatments offered with 100g/head/day of
Urea-molasses-block (UMB). The control treatment was supplemented with concentrate mix
at 2.0% of live weight (T4). The study period consisted 84 days of feeding and 7 days
digestibility trials. The CP, NDF and ADF contents of grass hay were 4.6, 72.21 and 61.7%,
respectively. The CP contents of alfalfa and concentrate mixture were 13.03 and 23.4%,
respectively. Total DM intake was 925.41, 956.16, 1078.13 and 1015.65 (SE=± 19.4) for T1,
T2, T3 and T4, respectively and T1 was lower (p<0.05) than T3 and similar with T2 and T4.
Crude protein intake was 132.19, 133.74, 166.59 and 151.3 (SE=± 3.91) g/day for T1, T2, T3
and T4, respectively and T3 was statistically similar with T4, but higher than T1 and T2. T3
and T4 had statistically higher DM, OM and CP digestibility than T1 and T2. Apparent DM
digestibility percentage was 45.12, 41.8, 54.05 and 52.11 (SE=± 1.57) for T1, T2, T3 and T4,
respectively. Apparent crude protein digestibility was 70.4, 67.26, 78.61 and 72.02 (SE=±
1.19) for T1, T2, T3 and T4, respectively. Average daily gain was 54.76, 55.36, 63.1 and
109.33 (SE=± 6.13) g/day for T1, T2, T3 and T4, respectively and the values were the highest
for T4 (P<0.01). Hot carcass weight was 12.2, 12.4, 12.9 and 16.3 (SE=± 0.45) kg for T1, T2,
T3 and T4, respectively and the values were the highest for T4 (p<0.001). The net return in the
present study was 1101.2, 818.3, 887.7, 1168.6 ETB for T1, T2, T3 and T4 and marginal rate
of return (MRR) was 0.18, 0.98 and 0.91 for T1, T2 and T3, respectively. The study showed
that concentrate supplementation at 2% body weight resulted in greater gain than graded
levels of alfalfa in combination with same amount of UMB. However, the body weight gain
achieved at all levels of alfalfa plus UMB was commendable and T3 with greater MRR and
biological performance can be considered as alternative supplement when concentrate is in
short supply.
