EFFECTS OF VARIOUS SUPPLEMENTATIONS ON PERFORMANCE OF YANKASA RAMS DURING EARLY RAINY SEASON GRAZING IN GUINEA SAVANNAH ZONE

Abstract

This study was conducted to assess the performance of growing Yankasa rams fed various supplements during early rainy season grazing. The study was conducted at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching and Research Farm, Bauchi. Sixteen (16) growing Yankasa rams were fed four supplemental diets, which comprises of African locust bean pulp (ALBP) + Maize bran, ALBP meal + poultry litter (PL), ALBP meal + cotton seed cake (CSC) and ALBP meal +groundnut haulms (GNH).  The animals were allowed to graze natural pasture from morning to evening (9am-5pm) within a specify area of one kilometer. Six hundred grams (600g) of the supplemental diets were offered twice a day, 300g in the morning before grazing and 300g in evening after grazing. The study lasted sixty (60) days in a Complete Randomized Design (CRD) of four treatments with four replications. Data were taken on feed intake and live weight changes. The results showed no significant differences in terms of dry matter intakes, total weight gain, average daily weight gain and feed conversion ratio. Crude protein, crude fibre and organic matter intakes were also not affected. Parameters affected (P<0.05) were ether extracts, Ash and acid detergent fibre intakes. It was concluded that, based on the performance of the animals in terms of total weight gain and average daily weight gain, supplementation with ALBP meal + CSC before and after grazing gave the best result. It was recommended that, supplementation with ALBP meal + CSC at equal ratio (50g ALBP and 50g CSC) during early rainy season grazing should be encouraged as it gave the best daily weight gain of 83.33g/head/day.