Performance characteristics and nitrogen metabolism of West African dwarf rams fed diets containing varying levels of sugarcane waste silage

Abstract

Sugarcane waste are usually generated in large quantity, dumped and therefore causing environmental pollution. Hence a forteen week study was conducted to investigate the growth performance and nitrogen utilization of West African Dwarf (WAD) rams fed diets containing varying levels of sugarcane waste silages (SWS) 0, 50, 75 and 100% inclusion levels as replacement for cassava peels. A total of sixteen (16) WAD rams were allotted into four dietary treatments in a completely randomised design. Data were collected on growth performance and nitrogen utilization. Results obtained showed that the experimental diets did not significantly (p > 0.05) influenced the growth performance except the final weight and feed conversion ratio. Ram on T₂ recorded the highest final weight value (16.52 kg) and best feed conversion ratios value (18.03) when compared with other dietary treatments. No significant (p>0.05) differences among the dietary treatments were observed in all the nitrogen utilization parameters observed except the total nitrogen loss and nitrogen utilization. The nitrogen utilization values varied significantly (P<0.05) across the dietary treatments in which rams fed silages containing 50% sugarcane waste had the highest value (63.29%). It can therefore be concluded that rams fed 50% inclusion level of sugarcane waste exhibited the best growth performance and positive nitrogen utilization.

Keywords: Growth, Sugarcane, Nitrogen retention, rams.