GROWTH AND HEMATO-BIOCHEMICAL INDICES OF YANKASA RAMS FED UREA ENSILED COLUMBUS GRASS WITH VARYING SUPPLEMENTS AS MAIZE BRAN, PILIOSTIGMA RETICULATUM PODS, WHEAT OFFALS AND THEIR COMBINATIONS

Abstract

The experiment was conducted to evaluate the response of growing Yankasa rams fed Urea treated Columbus grass as basal diet with varying supplements on growth, haemato-biochemical indices and feed cost of growing Yankasa rams. Columbus grass herbage was ensilaged with 5% urea to make a silage which forms the basal diet with supplements as; Maize bran, (MB), Piliostigma reticulatum pods (PRP), Wheat Offal (W/O) and their combinations at the ratio of 1:1 (MB/PRP and W/O/PRP) designated as diets; 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 respectively. Twenty growing Yankasa rams were used for the experiment and randomly allocated to five dietary treatment groups of four animals each in a completely randomize design (CRD). The basal diet and water were given ad-libitum. The trials lasted for 70 days. Three hundred grams (300g) of the supplements were given, first in the morning 150g before the basal diet is offered to each animal and the other 150g in the evening, The result showed that ADWG was highest (91.64g/day) with the rams feed diet 3 and the least was 65.96g/day in those fed diet 4. Better feed utilization of (8.99) was recorded in the rams fed diet 3 and the least (14.52) was in those fed diet 4. The haematological parameters affected were haemoglobin, (Hb) pack cell volume (PCV), red blood cell (RBC), mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCV) and mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC). Total protein, total glucose, blood urea, and total nitrogen before and after feeding were all significantly affected with the exception of total glucose before feeding and all parameters were within the normal range values. Highest feed cost savings of N1,543.2 was recorded on rams feed diet 4. It was concluded that; growing Yankasa rams be fed Urea treated Columbus grass-based diet with varying supplements without any deleterious effects on performance of the animals.