Effects of multinutrient blocks supplementation on the performance of Yankasa sheep fed with basal diet of rice straw in the dry season of Guinea Savanna Region of Nigeria

摘要

A research was conducted to determine the effects of two types of multinutrient block with or without molasses and a basal diet of rice straw on the performance of sheep. Fifteen (15) male Yankasa rams aged between 16 and 18 months and having average live weight of 42 + 1.0 kg were used for the study The sheep were randomly allocated to three treatments group with five sheep per treatment each in experiment the treatments were MNBM with basal diet, MNBW with basal diet and the Control. There was significant (P0.01) difference between the supplemented and the control group. The corresponding values for live weight gain were 0.02g/day, 0.13g/day and 0.15g/day for the control, MNBW and MNBW respectively. A metabolism trial was conducted to assess nitrogen balance in sheep fed a basal diet of rice straw and supplemented with MNBM and MNBW. Three Sheep were used for the trial, representing each treatment group. There was no significant (P0.01) difference in the nitrogen retained between the supplemented group but differs (P0.01) significantly with the control. The nitrogen retained were 5.78g/day, 24.96g/day and 25.87g/day for the control, MNBW and MNBM.