Nutritive value of conserved maize, amaranth or maize-amaranth mixture as dry season fodder for growing West African Dwarf sheep

摘要

Thenutritivevalueofconservedmaize,amaranthormaize-amaranthfoddersasdryseasonfeedsforruminantswereestimatedinadigestibilityandanimalgrowthstudyusingWestAfricandwarf(WAD)sheep.Wholeplantmaize(Zeamays),grainamaranth(Amaranthuscruentus)andtheirmixture,harvestedatdoughstagewereeithersun-driedorensiledandfedtosheep.nbsp;Proteinconcentrationofconservedfoddersrangedfrom9.3to22.4g/100g.Drymatterdigestibilityofsun-driedmaize(SDM),sun-driedmaize-amaranth(SDMA),sun-driedamaranth(SDA),ensiledmaize(EM),ensiledmaize-amaranth(EMA)andensiledamaranth(EA)was71.8,60.7,57.3,73.7,55.3and52.6%respectively.IntakeofWADsheepfedSDM,SDMA,SDA,EM,EMAandEAwas3.64,3.78,3.48,3.45,2.45and2.18%BWwhileaveragedailygainwas82.6,71.3,65.3,83.8,52.2and44.1g/dayrespectively.Feedconversionratiorangedfrom7.96to10.4.Maizefoddershadthebestfeedconversionwhileamaranthfoddershadthepoorest.Althoughamaranthhadhigherproteinconcentrationthanmaize,digestibilityandperformanceofsheepfedamaranthormaize-amaranthfodderswerelowerthanthosefedmaize.nbsp;Sun-driedfoddersseemtobepreferredandbetterutilizedbysheepthanensiledfodders.Toderivemaximumbenefitsfromamaranthasaruminantfeed,thereisneedtoinvestigatethepresenceofanti-nutritionalfactorsintheplantandmethodsforreducingtheireffectsonnutritivevalueofthefodder.