ASSESING THE GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND COST BENEFIT OF UDA RAMS FED ENSILED MIXTURE OF ZIZIPHUS MAURITIANA LEAVES AND PENNISETUM PEDICELLATUM

Abstract

This experiment was conducted to assess the effect of replacing groundnut hay with graded levels of ensiled mixture of Ziziphus mauritiana leaves (ZML) and Pennisetum pedicellatum (PP) on growth performance of Uda rams. Five diets designated as T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5 were formulated to form the basal diet. T1 contained only groundnut hay while T2, T3, T4 and T5 had 25, 50, 75 and 100% replacement levels of ensiled ZML and PP for GNH. Similarly, a supplement mix of 30% rushed maize, 40% cotton seed cake, 25% wheat offal and 5% cowpea husk was offered to the animals at 33% of daily ration. Twenty (20) Uda rams weighing between 20.00 and 21.01kg were randomly allotted to the five diets in replicates of four in a completely randomized design. The feeding trial took a period of 80 days. Data on daily feed intake, weight gain and feed conversion ratio were collected. Results showed a significant influence of ensiled ZML + PP in daily feed intake daily weight gain, total weight gain and feed conversion ratio among diets. The results showed that rams on T5 (732.18g) had significantly (P<0.05) higher DFI which was comparable with T4 (717.44g), T3 (694.77g) and T1 (674.33g) than those fed diet T2 (658.02g). Similarly, daily weight gain was higher (P<0.05) in rams fed diet T5 (107.33g) and T4 (95.25g) which did not differ from those fed diet T3 (83.11g) but lower on T1 (76.09g) and T2 (74.36g) which were the same. Feed conversion ratio significantly (P<0.05) better on T5 (6.80) and T4 (7.53) which compared favourably with T2 (8.85) and T3 (8.36) than on T1 (8.86). It was therefore concluded that a mixture of ensiled Ziziphus mauritiana leaves and Pennisetum pedicellatum can completely replace groundnut hay as basal diet in the feed of Uda rams with improved growth performance. 

Keywords: Silage, Ziziphus mauritiana, Pennisetum pedicellatum, growth performance, 

                    Uda Rams.