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OLUSOLA ADERINOLA
Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Department of Animal Production and Health, Nigeria
The project examines the performance of West African Dwarf sheep randomly assigned to four different experimental diets of Andropogon tectorum interplanted with Lablab purpureus at 0 (T1-control); 2.5 (T2) ; 5.0 (T3) and 7.5m (T4) inter-row spacing.
Proximate analysis was carried out after twelve (12) weeks of plant regrowth. It revealed that the nutritive value of the grass was enhanced by the legume (Lablab purpureus) interplant. The crude protein, ether extract and ASH contents of the grass increase as the inter-row spacing decreases with the heighest value observed in treatment T2. Dry matter and nitrogen free extract (NFE) showed no significant (p > 0.05) difference. Crude fiber content was observed to decrease with decreasing Lablab purpureus inter"=row spacing. The performance of the WAD sheep revealed that dry matter, crude fibre, ether extract and NFE intakes were similar (p > 0.05) among the various treatment. The crude protein intake and ash intake (g) was the lowest in animals fed T1 (25.49g and 11.85g, respectively) while the highest values were found in T2 with (31.66g) and (17.75g, respectively). Digestibility coefficient followed the same trends with crude protein, ash and ether extract being the highest in animals fed T2. Though animals fed T2 showed the highest daily weight gain (49.4g), it was similar (p > 0.05) to animals on T3 while the lowest gain was observed in animals fed T1 (sole grass). This study shows that animals would thrive well on wide legume inter"=row spacing even up to 5.0m to reduce the cost of seed procurement.
Keywords: Andropogon tectorum, WAD sheep
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