National Animal Husbandry Research Centre, P.O. Box 25, Naivasha, Kenya; Division of Research and Extension, Egerton University, P.O. Box 536, Njoro, Kenya; Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, P.O. Box 57811, Nairobi, Kenya
Wekesa, F.W., National Animal Husbandry Research Centre, P.O. Box 25, Naivasha, Kenya; Abdulrazak, S.A., Division of Research and Extension, Egerton University, P.O. Box 536, Njoro, Kenya; Mukisira, E.A., Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, P.O. Box 57811, Nairobi, Kenya
The objective of the study was to evaluate the voluntary feed intake and body weight gain of Sahiwal female weaners fed on rhodes grass hay and supplemented with cotton seed cake based ration (CSCBR) and pyrethrum marc based ration (PMBR). Twenty five weaners were allocated to five treatments in a randomised complete design (RCD). The CP contents of the feeds were 74.1, 156 and 143 g/kg dry matter (DM) and neutral detergent fibre (NDF) was 720, 345 and 329 g/kg DM for Rhodes grass hay (RGH), CSBR and PMBR respectively. At higher level of supplementation, improved dry matter intake was recorded in the group that was offered PMBR than CSCBR. Supplementation also improved dry matter intake with hardly any substitution effect. Better average daily gain was recorded in weaners, which were supplemented with CSCBR but was not statistically different from the PMBR while control group grew at the lowest rate. Volatile fatty acid concentration improved with supplementation but varied across the treatment diets. All the animals across the various treatment diets remained in a positive nitrogen balance during the period of study. Supplementation also improved rumen ammonia nitrogen levels. It was concluded that CSCBR and PMBR were comparable in respect of animal performance and hence be encouraged in their inclusion in ruminant rations.