Feed intake and digestion by two cattle breeds fed of baby corn stovers and groundnut hay supplemented with graded levels of concentrate and Moringa leaves

摘要

ToassesstheimpactofbreedsanddietsonanimalperformanceinaWestAfricanproductionsetting,pureN#8217;DamaandN#8217;DamaxJerseycrossbredcattlewerefedtwobasaldiets,babycornandgroundnuthay,supplementedwithgradedlevelsofeitherconventionalconcentrateorMoringaoleiferanbsp;Lamleaves(moringa),tocompareanimalresponsesinproductivity.Inthiscontext,moringaconstitutesapotentialalternativetocommercialconcentrateforcattleproduction.nbsp;Twelveanimals(sixofeachbreed)wereusedinacrossoverdesign.Theywerefedconsecutivelythreecombinationsofroughageandsupplement,babycornstoversandconcentrate(BCS:C),groundnuthayandconcentrate(GNH:C)andgroundnuthayandmoringa(GNH:M),eachat5levelsofsupplementation(0,10,20,30and40%).Resultsfromthisstudyshowedthattherewasacleardifferenceinanimalresponsetodifferentfeedingregimesbetweenthetwobreeds.Whenaveragedoveralldietsorganicmatterintake(OMI)washigherincrossbredcomparedtoN#8217;Dama(94and87.6g/kg0.75d-1,respectively).OnlywhenthedietconsistedofBCS:C,andatlowlevelsofsupplementation,N#8217;Damaingestedmorethancrossbred,butthedifferencewasnotsignificant.WithGNH:Ccrossbredingestedsignificantlymoreatlevelsofsupplementationlessorequalto20%.WithGNH:Mcrossbredingestedmore,whateverthelevelofsupplementation.Averagedoveralldietsandlevels,organicmatterdigestibility(OMD)washigherinN#8217;Dama(64.6%against60.7incrossbreds).ResultsfromourstudyshowedthatN'Damamightbeasefficientastheircrossbredcounterpartsinconvertingfeedintoweightalthoughtheyhadtheabilitytoingestmoreoflowqualityfeed.Whenmoringawasusedassupplement,theresultsonweightgainwerenotconclusive,however,dataonintakeanddigestibilityshowedpromisingpotentialformoringaasanalternativetoconcentratemixture.