Kitaw G., Dejene M., Kehaliw A., Assefa G.
Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), Holetta Research Center, P.O. Box 2003, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, P.O. Box 2003, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Kitaw, G., Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), Holetta Research Center, P.O. Box 2003, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Dejene, M., Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), Holetta Research Center, P.O. Box 2003, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Kehaliw, A., Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), Holetta Research Center, P.O. Box 2003, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Assefa, G., Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, P.O. Box 2003, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
A feeding trial was conducted for 90 days on yearling Horro lambs with a mean body weight of 18.5±0.05kg (mean ±SD) to investigate the effect of supplementation of conventional oil seed cakes and the comparative advantage they have over a fodder legume (Chamaecytisus palmensis) commonly known as Tagasaste supplementation. Six experimental sheep per treatment were arranged in completely randomized design to receive dietary treatments formulated to the nearest iso-nitrogenous and iso-caloric in order to achieve a daily growth rate of 100g. In addition to being fed to an ad libitum natural pasture hay the sheep were supplemented with a concentrate mix composed of 180g noug seed (Guizotia abyssinica) cake + 180g wheat bran (NC), 180g linseed cake + 180g wheat bran (LC), 160g cotton seed cake + 200g wheat bran (CS), 250g Tagasaste leaf on dry matter bases + 150g wheat bran (TL) while the control group (CTL) was allowed to graze 8 hours a day according to the farmer's practice with out supplementation. Supplementation with cotton seed meal followed by linseed cake has substantially improved feed dry matter and nutrient intake (P<0.05), and significantly (P<0.05) promoted daily body weight gain and feed conversion efficiencies. For almost all measured parameters in general no appreciable differences (P>0.05) in terms of sheep performance were observed among experimental sheep receiving noug cake meal and Tagasaste forage leaf signifying the need to capture the opportunity to replace conventional and most widely used purchased protein supplement with cost effective on-farm grown multi-purpose forage legume under Ethiopian condition. Even though, part of the work related to the carcass quality deserves special attention in the up-coming future research work the data set from the current study favors the use of the protein supplements in the order of CS, LC, TL, NC, respectively.