I.V. Nsahlai

Effect of feeding graded levels of Leucaena leucocephala, Leucaena pallida, Sesbania sesban and Chamaecytisus palmensis supplements to teff straw given to Ethiopian highland sheep

Abstract The effect of feeding graded levels of Leucaena leucocephala , Leucaena pallida , Sesbania sesban and Chamaecytisus palmensis supplements on intake, digestibility and live weight changes was evaluated using 102 male Ethiopian highland sheep in a 90-day trial. Teff straw ( Eragrostis tef ) was fed ad libitum (control diet), or supplemented with graded levels (15, 30, 45, 60% of ration dry matter intake) of L. leucocephala, L. pallida, C. palmensis or S. sesban in a randomized complete block design. Significant ( P −1 supplement) increased with increasing levels of supplementation. Substitution rate varied from 162 to 528 in L. pallida , −89 to 312 in L. leucocephala, −566 to 231 in S. sesban and −10 to 134 in C. palmensis supplemented diets. Dry matter and digestible organic matter intake increased significantly ( P L. leucocephala , C. palmensis and S. sesban , but not in L. pallida . Live weight gain increased significantly ( P −1 ) while the supplemented ones gained weight in the range of 6.5–65.2 g d −1 . The maximum live weight gain (65.2 g d −1 ) was observed in sheep fed a diet with 60% L. pallida . The optimum levels of browse supplementation in terms of live weight gain per g supplement were 45, 45, 30, 30% DM of total ration for L. leucocephala , L. pallida , C. palmensis and S. sesban , respectively. A close relationship between live weight gain and amount of supplement was observed. The digestibilities of DM, OM, N and supplement DM increased significantly ( P P >0.05) differences were observed in NDF digestibility. Faecal nitrogen, urinary nitrogen output and nitrogen retention increased significantly ( P

Effect of leucaena and sesbania supplementation on body growth and scrotal circumference of Ethiopian highland sheep and goats fed teff straw basal diet

The long term effect of supplementation of Leucaena pallida and Sesbania sesban on growth and reproduction performance was determined on 30 male Ethiopian highland sheep and 25 East African goats. Unchopped teff straw (Eragrostis tef) was given ad libitum and supplemented with either wheat bran (150 g), Leucaena (200 or 400 g) or Sesbania (200 or 400 g). The animals were blocked (by species) on live weight and scrotal circumference (SC), and randomly assigned within blocks to the five dietary treatments in a randomized complete block design. Animals supplemented with 400 g of the browses had significantly higher (P < 0.05) intake of DM and live weight gain than the other treatments. Sheep had significantly higher (P < 0.05) teff straw intake than goats (47.3 and 38.7 g kg W-0.75, respectively). The correlation between SC and body weight was high and significant in goats (r2 = 0.70, P < 0.001) and lower in sheep (r2 = 0.43, P < 0.01). Live weight gain and scrotal circumference changes were significantly (P < 0.01) different between treatments in both animal species. Supplementation with browses increased faecal nitrogen output and nitrogen retention. The results from this study indicated type and level of supplement variations on the growth and reproductive performance of sheep and goats.

Effect of form and of quality of feed on the concentrations of purine derivatives in urinary spot samples, daily microbial N supply and predictability of intake

This study examined the influence of dietary variation on the usefulness of urinary spot purine derivatives (PD) collected at three periods (8:00‐9:30, 14:00‐15:30 and 20:00‐21:30 hours) as predictors of intake by cattle. Diets comprised teff (Eragrotis tef) straw, fresh and dried napier grass and fresh napier grass supplemented with 1.5 (as fed) of dry alfalfa hay. Variation in dry matter intake (DMI) was further amplified by using calves ranging between 65 and 207 kg live weight (W). DMI and digestible organic matter (OM) ranged from 1.36 to 7.34 and from 0.67 to 3.88 (kg per day), respectively. The only differences (in intake, digestibility, microbial PD and N supply) among the diets which were significant at least at Pa0.05 were due to supplementation with alfalfa. The excretion of allantoin and total PD were within the ranges 3.33‐47.37 and 3.60‐47.37 (mmol per day), respectively. The sampling period had no influence on the concentration of PD or creatinine (CR) nor on the PD:CR ratio in urine. Diets influenced (P<0.01) PD concentration such that the poorest quality diet (teff straw) exhibited the highest concentration, but diets had no effect on the PD:CR ratio. The PD:CR ratio or the PD concentrations had poor correlations with the intake and had no predictive power on their own. Further discussion was structured to develop ideas used to model intake based on PD concentrations and predicted urine output (UOP (g per day)aexp(2.480a3.41 NDS)W 0.942 , where NDS (g/g DM) is neutral detergent solubles). The equation of intake on PD and UOP achieved 89% accuracy (OMI (g per day)aˇ0.15a0.556 UOPa0.038 PD8, where PD8 is the uncorrected PD concentration within 8:00‐9:30 hours period). The slope and the

The effect of supplementing teff (Eragrostis tef) straw with graded levels of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) and lablab (Lablab purpureus) hays on degradation, rumen particulate passage and intake by crossbred (Friesian × Boran (zebu)) calves

This study characterized the degradability of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) and Dolichos lablab (Lablab purpureus) hays (trial 1) and the effect of these legumes on rumen ammonia concentration (RAC), particulate passage rate (k1) and intake (trial 2) and the degradability of teff (Eragrostis tef) straw (trial 3). Trials 1 and 3 were conducted using ruminally cannulated crossbred (Friesian × Boran) cows. In trial 1, cows were fed native pasture hay ad libitum plus 2.45 kg cottonseed cake head−1 day−1. In trial 2, calves were fed ad libitum teff straw alone or supplemented with three levels (0.5, 1 and 1.5% of body weight) of either cowpea or lablab hay. In trial 3, cows were fed teff straw ad libitum supplemented with either cowpea or lablab hay at 1% of body weight. Cowpea had similar degradation characteristics to lablab. Supplementation increased RAC (154–218 vs. 48 mg/l; P < 0.01), rate of degradation of teff straw (0.0257–0.0274 vs. 0.0138/h; P < 0.05), rumen outflow rate (k1) (1.48–2.09 vs. 1.18%/h; P < 0.05) and decreased the mean retention time (MRT; 72.8 vs. 109 h; P < 0.01). Total dry matter intake (DMI) increased with increasing level of supplementation. Cowpea and lablab had similar RAC, rate of degradation of teff straw, k1, MRT and DMI. It was concluded that both herbaceous legumes are equally efficient in alleviating nutrient deficiencies incurred when teff straw is fed to calves.

Influence of feeding sheep on oilseed cake following the consumption of tanniferous feeds

This study evaluated the synergism between oilseed [50:50 noug (Guizotia abyssinica) and groundnut] cake (OSC) and tanniferous feeds (pods of Acacia albida and Sesbania sesban leaves) in two experiments. S. sesban has a lower content of soluble phenolics than A. albida pods (196 vs. 270 g/kg). Dietary treatments during trial 1 comprised teff (Eragrotis tef) straw given ad libitum supplemented per day with the following: 168 g of OSC alone (T1), or 100 g of OSC plus 135 g of sesbania leaves (T2) or 100 g of OSC plus either 50 (T3),100 (T4) or 200 g (T5) of acacia pods. During trial 2 dietary treatments comprised T1, T2, T5 and an additional treatment comprised 100 g sesbania leaves plus 200 g pods which were fed to sheep as a mixture. One strategy (sequence) was to give the OSC following complete consumption of either sesbania leaves or acacia pods while the other strategy (mixture) was to mix OSC with either of these forages before feeding. The sequence strategy was used in trial 1 while both strategies were used in trial 2. Each experiment used 30 sheep in a RCB design. During trial one incremental intake of pods resulted to linear increases (P 0.05) and substantial using the sequence strategy (23 g/day; P 0.05) for the sesbania and large (15 g/day; P<0.05) for the acacia diets. A comparison between the OSC–acacia mixture and acacia–sesbania mixture suggested that sesbania leaves could replace OSC with rather marginal increases in LWG. The discussion was structured to explain why the sequence strategy could offer a greater chance of interaction between tannin and OSC–protein than the mixture strategy and why such interaction was most probable with A. albida pods than with S. sesban. It was concluded that it is beneficial to feed sheep on OSC following the intake of tanniferous feeds as this could support superior LWG.

Utilization of browse supplements with varying tannin levels by Ethiopian Menz sheep 2. Nitrogen metabolism.

The effect of different condensed tannins concentrations on protein metabolism from browse supplements was investigated in a 90-day trial using sixty-six male Ethiopian Menz sheep. Teff straw (Eragrostis tef) was fed ad libitum (control diet), or supplemented with 190 g dried leaves of six Sesbania sesban accessions with increasing levels of condensed tannin (S1, S2, S3, S4, S5 and S6), lablab (Dolichos lablab), tagasaste (Chamaecytisus palmensis), leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala) and goetzei (Sesbania goetzei) in a completely randomized block design. The condensed tannins were highest in goetzei; S6, S5 and leucaena, intermediate in S4, S3, S2 and S1, and lowest in tagasaste and lablab. The supplemented animals had significantly (P < 0.05) higher total dry matter and nitrogen (N) intake than the ones fed teff straw alone. The digestibility of N was lower for the control diet than for any other treatment (P < 0.05). S1 and S2 supplemented diets had significantly higher (P < 0.05) N digestibilities than all other diets. Faecal N, urinary N and urinary N per kg N excreted were significantly different (P < 0.0001) between diets. With increasing tannin levels (among Sesbania accessions) there was a significant decrease (P < 0.05) in urinary N (S1 > S2 > S3 > S4 > S5), and an increase (P < 0.05) in faecal N (S1 < S2 < S3 < S4 < S5). Supplementation increased faecal N output significantly (P < 0.0001) as well as the N retention. Among the forage supplements, N retention was significantly (P < 0.0001) lower in lablab-, tagasaste-, leucaena-, S4- and goetzei-supplemented diets, than for S1, S2, S5 and S6. Apparent nitrogen digestibility was positively correlated (P < 0.001) with the supplement dry matter and crude protein (CP) degradation after 24 h (r = 0.93 and r = 0.85, respectively), the CP content (r = 0.87), and was negatively correlated with acid detergent fibre and neutral detergent fibre (r = –0.87 and –0.87, respectively). The CP degradability characteristics of the forages differed (P < 0.001) in water solubility (93–470 g kg-1 CP), rate of degradation (2.58–9.73 %/h), lag phase (–1.36–13.37 h), and estimated escape protein (262–619 g kg-1 CP). With increasing tannin levels (among Sesbania accessions), there was a significant decrease (P < 0.0001) in the rate of degradation (S1 > S2 > S3 > S4 > S5), and an increase in the estimated escape protein. The estimated rumen degradable protein (supplements) varied from 482 to 744 g kg-1 CP, while intestine digestible protein and the undegradable protein varied from 140 to 314 g kg-1 CP, hence the browses can supply adequate levels of rumen degradable and bypass protein.

Complementarity of bird-resistant and non-bird-resistant varieties of sorghum stover with cottonseed cake and noug (Guizotia abyssinica) cake when fed to sheep

A study was conducted to examine whether oilseed cakes (cottonseed cake (CSC) or noug (Guizotia abyssinica) cake (NSC)) are complementary to the bird-resistant (BR) and non-bird-resistant (NBR) varieties of sorghum stover and whether sheep select against morphological fractions containing high concentrations of tannins or proanthocyanidins (PA). Either 24 (growth study) or 16 (metabolism study) Ethiopian Menz sheep were used in a randomized complete block design to study the interaction of variety of sorghum stover with type of oilseed cake on feed selection, intake, digestibility, microbial protein synthesis, nitrogen (N) retention and growth. The degradability of the feeds and refusals was also determined. The NBR variety was more degradable than the BR variety during the early hours of incubation. NSC degraded faster, although to a lesser extent than CSC. Stover variety had no effect on ruminal ammonia concentration (RAC) while CSC induced a higher RAC than NSC did. Sheep given the NBR variety had more dust, less heads, less leaf, less sheath and more stem in their ingesta than those fed on the BR variety. It was seen that the sheep discriminated against the stems, since the ratio of stem in ingesta to stem on offer was < 1. Since PA are more highly concentrated in the sheath than in any of the other plant fractions, it appears that the choice of the morphological composition of the ingesta by sheep was not determined by PA. Sheep selected a diet which was 2-5% or or 5-11% more degradable than the offered or refused feeds, respectively. Relative to NSC, CSC enhanced the intake of N, N bound to neutral detergent fibre (NDF), digestibility and N retention and tended to increase (P < 0.06) liveweight gain (LWG) and organic matter (OM) intake but had no effect on microbial protein synthesis. Compared with the NBR variety, the BR variety depressed N digestibility and N retention, had no effect on microbial protein synthesis and on LWG, but depressed the efficiency of LWG by c. 30 %. Sheep given the BR + NSC diet had the lowest daily gain but excreted copious amounts of urine, probably in an attempt to eliminate toxic waste substances. Since sorghum is a crop of the semi-arid regions, it is quite likely that, although the bird resistance trait increases crop yield, it has resulted in a feed that is rather less suitable for livestock in this production environment, where water shortages are frequent. In-depth studies on the consequences of water shortage on the utilization of bird-resistant sorghum stover are required.

Strategic Supplementation of Crossbred Steers Fed Forages from Cereal-Legume Cropping Systems with Cowpea Hay

Abstract Umunna, N.N., Osuji, P.O. and Nsahlai, I.V. 1997. Strategic supplementation of crossbred steers fed forages from cereal-legume cropping systems with cowpea hay. J. Appl. Anim. Res., 11: 169–182. Forty-four crossbred steers were used in a 252-day trial to assess the feeding value of forages from two cereal-legume cropping systems. Cropping system 1 comprised oat-vetch (Avena sativa-Vicia dasycarpa), wheat-trifolium (Triticum aestivum-Trifolium steudneri), teff (Eragrostis tef) and cowpea (Vigna unguiculata). Cropping system 2 had maize-lablab (Zea mays-Lablab purpureus) instead of wheat-trifolium. Treatments comprised ad libitum teff straw alone (T1), teff straw plus wheat middlings (T2), forages from cropping system 1 fed in the order and length (days) oat-vetch (112), wheat-trifolium plus cowpea hay (70) and teff straw plus cowpea hay (70) (T3) or forages from cropping system 2 fed in the same order and length (days) (T4). Cowpea hay and wheat middlings were supplemented at 1% of body weight. Ma...