ABSTRACT
Two feeding trials were conducted to investigate the growth and physiological response of sheep fed forage with and without supplementary bambara nut waste or brewers spent grain. First trial (Experiment I) assesed the effects of dry season supplementation of bambara nut waste or dry brewers spent grain on growth performance and blood metabolites (blood plasma ammonia and blood plasma urea) of West African dwarf sheep, while the Experiment 2 investigated the digestibility coefficients of bambara nut waste and dry brewers spent grain. In experiment 1, nine sheep (six females and three males) were randomly divided into three treatment groups at three sheep per treatment with one sheep serving as a replicate. The first group (control) was allowed to graze only. They were herded out at 08:00 hours and brought back at 5:00 hours. The second and third groups were given 500g of dry brewers spent grain or bambara nut waste at 8;00 hours and at 11:00 hours,, thereafter they grazed for the rest of the day. Feed intake and body weights of the animals were recorded. The animals were allowed a pre-experimental period of 3 weeks while the feeding trial itself lasted for ten weeks (December – February).
At 3 weeks blood was collected from the animals for 4 days to determine the blood metabolites. In
experiment 2, six sheep (four females and two males) were allowed a preliminary period of 14 days, followed by 7 days faecal collection. They were randomly divided into two groups (treatments) of three sheep per treatment with one sheep serving as a replicate. One group was fed dry Brewers spent grain and the other group fed bambara nut waste. Experiment 1 was carried out using a completely randomized design (CRD). The supplement intake for the first experiment, the cost implication of using the two supplements, the proximate composition, nutrient intake for the second experiment and the digestibility coefficients were compared using t-test. In experiment 1 there
were no significant (P>0.05) differences between the two supplements in dry matter, ash, ether extract and nitrogen- free extract while significant (P<0.05) differences existed between the two supplements in crude protein, crude fibre and gross energy contents. Sheep on treatments 2 and 3 had similar (P > 0.05) average final body weight, average daily weight gain, average body weight change, blood plasma ammonia concentration, blood plasma urea concentration and cost implication of feeding the two supplements, which were significantly P < 0.05) higher than those of
treatment 1while sheep on treatment 3 had higher (P<0.05), feed intake
Terms of Use: This is an academic paper. Students should NOT copy our materials word to word, as we DO NOT encourage Plagiarism. Only use as a guide in developing your original research work. Thanks.
Disclaimer: All undertaking works, records, and reports posted on this website, eprojectguide.com are the property/copyright of their individual proprietors. They are for research reference/direction purposes and the works are publicly supported. Do not present another person’s work as your own to maintain a strategic distance from counterfeiting its results. Use it as a guide and not duplicate the work in exactly the same words (verbatim). eprojectguide.com is a vault of exploration works simply like academia.edu, researchgate.net, scribd.com, docsity.com, course hero, and numerous different stages where clients transfer works. The paid membership on eprojectguide.com is a method by which the site is kept up to help Open Education. In the event that you see your work posted here, and you need it to be eliminated/credited, it would be ideal if you call us on +2348064699975 or send us a mail along with the web address linked to the work, to eprojectguide@gmail.com. We will answer to and honor each solicitation. Kindly note notification it might take up to 24 – 48 hours to handle your solicitation.