Yoseph Mekasha

Substitution of Concentrate Mix Supplement with Sesbania Sesban: on Feed Intake, Digestibility, Body Weight Change and Carcas Parameters Yoseph Mekasha

Substitution effect of Sesbania sesban for concentrate mix on feed intake, digestibility, body weight (BW) change and carcass parameters of local sheep. experiment was conducted using 25 male sheep with average initial BW of 19.13 ±1.60 kg (mean ± SD). The experiment consisted of 7 days of digestibility and 90 days of feeding trial. The experiment employed randomized complete block design with five blocks consisting of five animals per block based on the initial BW and the five treatments were assigned randomly to each animal in a block. Five dietary treatments were used in the experiment which comprised grass hay fed ad libitum (T1), T1 + 100% concentrate mix at a ratio of 2:1, T1+ (67% CM+ 33% S. sesban), T1+ (33% CM+ 67% S. sesban) and 100 % S. sesban. The supplements were offered twice daily. The final body weight were higher (P<0.01) in supplemented treatments. The present result indicated that supplementations improved feed intake, digestibility of nutrients. The results of this study suggest that T2 and T3 resulted in better BW performance and can be recommended.