No abstract

Thirty castrated desert sheep were used in feedlot performance and digestibility trials. Dietary treatment rations were formulated to replace groundnut cake by guar germ in a basal diet containing (%): sorghum grain, 30; groundnut hulls, 10; wheat bran, 10; molasses, 9 and common salt 1. Guar germ was included at different percentages: 0-ration A, 10-ration B, 20-ration C, 30-ration D and 40-ration E. Dry matter intake (g/kg BW) was significantly increased at inclusion of guar at levels of 20 or 30%, but significantly depressed at other levels. Digestibility of organic matter and crude protein was significantly improved by inclusion of guar at any level. That of crude fibre, however, was increased only at 30 and 40% guar levels. Disappearance of dry matter from nylon bags was almost complete within 24 h for all rations. Body weight gains increased slightly at all levels of guar inclusion in the diet. Except for the 20% level, the feed conversion ratio was also improved but this was not proved statistically. The best animal performance was obtained in response to including 30% guar in the diet.

Nine key forage species (grasses and legumes), together with two types of crop residues, usually fed by farmers to their livestock, were collected from a rainfed area in western Sudan during the dry season (May-April). The grasses investigated were Leptadena pyrotechnia, Cenchrus setigrus, Arista pallida, Eragrotis tremula, Schoenefeldia gracilis, Chloris vergata and Cenchrus biflorus. The crop residues investigated were the grasses, sorghum straw (Sorghum bichlor) and millet straw (Pennisetum typhodium) and the legumes Stylosanthes flavicans and Cajanus cajana. Estimates of organic matter (OM) degradability were done using the nylon bag technique, which was fitted into the model Y = a + b (1 - e(-ct)), in which the asymptote (a + b) represented the total potential degradability. Organic cell wall constituents and hence both metabolizable energy and total digestible energy or nutrients (TDN) were determined. S. flavicans showed the best organic matter degradability, and sorghum straw was better degraded than millet straw. The rest of the grasses showed poor OM degradability. Acid detergent insoluble nitrogen was inversely related to TDN, the latter falling within a narrow range for the different forages. Fermentable metabolizable energy differed only slightly, while the legume S. flavicans had the highest effective rumen digestible protein. Undegraded proteins were high for the straws and the grasses L. pyrotechnia and C. setigerus. Metabolizable protein and microbial protein were highest in the sorghum straw, C. setigerus and S. flavicans.

Twelve focus group discussions and 164 individual farmer interviews were held in 12 villages under dryland farming in different agroecological zones in North Kordofan, Sudan, during November-December 2018. The aim was to describe goat breeding objectives, ownership, and population distribution in relation to agroecological zones. Data and information collected were analyzed for descriptive statistics using SPSS (ver. 24). The highest goat numbers were in the semidesert (41.9%) and arid (35.0%) zones, holding over 75% of goat population. Overall percentage of households owning goats was 70.9%, with average flock size of four heads, mostly (94.9%) owned by women. Mature does constituted over 70.0% and female yearlings about 21.9%. No controlled mating over goat flocks was practiced, with an average of 77 goats per breeding buck. Kidding occurs mainly during the rainy and winter seasons. Lactating does were mostly (99.5%) milked once a day every morning. Milk production was ranked as the most important reason for raising goats across all agroecological zones, with highest indices at the semiarid on sand (index 0.886) and semiarid on clay (index 0.723) zones, followed by the semidesert zone (Index 0.633), and lowest indices (Index 0.500) at the desert and arid zones. Meat production was ranked 2nd in the desert (index 0.270) and semiarid on clay (index 0.262) zones, while income generation was ranked second across semidesert (index 0.300), semiarid on sand (index 0.345) and arid (0.068) zones. It was concluded that goat breeding objectives in the region should focus on milk production. Nonetheless, the multipurpose nature of goats (milk, meat, income generation, etc.) under low-input traditional dryland production systems should be taken into considerations when attempting improvement programs. Furthermore, there is a high need for genomic/genetic characterization of different goat subtypes/breeds in North Kordofan and Sudan at large.