Effects of dietary energy and protein levels on nutrient intake, digestibility, and body weight change in Hararghe highland and Afar sheep breeds of Ethiopia

Authors

  • Gadissa Sileshi School of Animal and Range Sciences, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Haramaya University, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia.
  • Eshetu Mitiku School of Animal and Range Sciences, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Haramaya University, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia.
  • Urge Mengistu School of Animal and Range Sciences, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Haramaya University, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia.
  • Tolera Adugna School of Animal and Range Science, College of Agriculture, Hawassa University, Awassa, Ethiopia.
  • Feyissa Fekede Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Keywords:

Average daily gain; digestibility; dry matter intake; feed conversion efficiency; nutrients intake

Abstract

Objectives: The experiment was conducted to determine the effect of dietary energy and protein level growth performances of selected indigenous Ethiopian sheep breeds.  Materials and Methods: Fifty intact ram lambs, 25 from each breed with 12 months of age and a mean initial body weight (IBW) of 19.31 ± 1.7 kg, were employed for this experiment. Animals were distributed randomly into five dietary treatments, i.e., minimum Energy and Protein (mEmP), medium energy and protein (MEMP), medium Energy and high Protein (MEHP), high energy and medium protein (HEMP), and high Energy and high Protein (HEHP) diets in randomized complete block design with 2 * 5 factorial arrangements. The minimum, medium, and high energy diets were 2.388, 2.866, and 3.344 Mcal/kg dry matter (DM) with the corresponding 10%, 16%, and 20% crude protein (CP) diets, respectively. The diets were formulated in a total mixed ration from wheat bran (WB), maize grain, peanut cake, and pasture hay feed ingredients. Diet offer was at the rate of 3% of lambs’ live weight and revised biweekly as per the attained body weight changes. Digestibility trial was conducted for 7 days of actual fecal data collection, followed by 90 days of feeding trial.  Results: The animals fed on the MEHP diet had a maximum DM and nutrient intakes (CP and organic matter) and the best final body weight (FBW), total gain, gain rate, average daily gains, and feed conversion efficiency (31.3, 12.9 kg, 41.2%, 143.3 gm, and 23.13, respectively), followed by HEMP, HEHP, MEMP, and mEmP diets. Digestibility of DM and nutrients linearly followed similar trends (p < 0.01). Hararghe sheep was heavier (p < 0.01) by 4.3 and 3.1 kg in its FBW and total gain and more efficient in nutrients utilization (22.57 vs. 18.18) as compared to Afar sheep (AS).  Conclusion: It is concluded that MEHP and MEMP are superior and optimum diets for sheep breeds, and Hararghe sheep is carried out better than AS in most growth performance parameters.

J. Adv. Vet. Anim. Res., 8(2): 185-194, June 2021

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Published

2021-05-19

How to Cite

Sileshi, G., Mitiku, E., Mengistu, U., Adugna, T., & Fekede, F. (2021). Effects of dietary energy and protein levels on nutrient intake, digestibility, and body weight change in Hararghe highland and Afar sheep breeds of Ethiopia. Journal of Advanced Veterinary and Animal Research, 8(2), 185–194. Retrieved from https://banglajol.info/index.php/JAVAR/article/view/76115

Issue

Vol. 8 No. 2 (2021)

Section

Original Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2021 Gadissa Sileshi, Eshetu Mitiku, Urge Mengistu, Tolera Adugna, Feyissa Fekede

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