Effect of Gliricidia sepium supplementation on intake, digestibility and nitrogen balance of wad sheep and goats fed vetiver grass.23

Abstract

Nine each of West African Dwarf Sheep and West African Dwarf Goats were used to evaluate the effect of Gliricidia sepium supplementation on the intake, digestibility and nitrogen balance of vetiver grass. The dry matter intake was observed to be higher when fed vetiver grass with varied levels of Gliricidia sepium than when fed vetiver grass alone for the goats (737.49>562.49>475.11) and sheep (621.44>594.15>588.12). The difference in nitrogen balance of WAD Sheep (11.42a; 9.71b and 8.89c) and Goats (13.74a; 10.18b and 7.15c) were significant (p<0.05) with higher values observed in higher levels of Gliricidia sepium supplementation. It was observed that feed intake, digestibility and nitrogen balance of both West African Dwarf Sheep and Goats increased with increasing supplementation of vetiver grass with Gliricidia sepium.

Keywords: Vetiver grass, Gliricidia sepium, Wad sheep, Wad goats.

Bowen Journal of Agriculture Vol. 5 (1&2) 2008: pp. 80-86