Supplementations of Hyparrhenia rufa -dominated hay with groundnut cake- wheat bran mix: effects on feed intake, digestibility and nitrogen balance of Somali goats

Abstract

A digestibility and nitrogen (N) balance experiment was conducted using twenty yearling male Somali goats weighing 23.4 +/- 2.02 (mean+/-SD). The objectives of the study were to evaluate the effects of supplementation with graded levels of mixture of groundnut cake and wheat bran at a ratio of 3:1 on DM basis on feed intake, apparent digestibility and N balance in Somali goats. The experimental design was a completely randomized design consisting of five animals in each treatment. The dietary treatments included ad libitum feeding of hay (T1, control), and daily supplementation with 200 (T2, low) 300 (T3, medium) and 400 g DM (T4, high) of the concentrate mix. Increased level of supplementation reduced (P < 0.001) daily hay DM intake. Digestibility of crude protein (CP) was higher (P < 0.001) for the supplemented goats. Urinary nitrogen, total nitrogen excretion and retention increased (P < 0.01) with the level of supplementation. It was concluded that supplementation with groundnut -wheat bran mixture promoted feed intake and digestibility of DM, CP, and N retention in Somali goats fed hay. However, supplementation at the medium level appeared to be more effective since it promoted similar N balance with the high level of supplementation.

Supplementation with linseed (Linum usitatissimum) cake and/or wheat bran on feed utilization and carcass characteristics of Arsi-Bale sheep

“…In agreement with the present study, Betsha and Melaku (2009) reported that supplementation of mixture of groundnut cake and WB to Somali goats improved the digestibility of CP, without affecting DM, OM, NDF, and ADF digestibility. Similarly, Melaku et al (2004) reported that mixtures of multipurpose trees supplemented to Menz sheep fed tef straw did not improve the digestibility of DM, OM, and NDF.…”

“…The CP content of the WB used in the current study was lower than 16.4% (Estifanos andMelaku 2009), 16.8 (Hagos and, and 20.1% (Betsha and Melaku 2009) reported for WB. These differences could be attributed to differences in the variety of the original wheat grain as well as the method of wheat flour processing employed (McDonald et al 2002).…”

Effect of supplementation of Simada sheep with graded levels of concentrate meal on feed intake, digestibility and body-weight parameters

“…The results of this study agree with other similar studies with regard to CP content of NSM (Bishaw and Melaku 2008;Nega and Melaku 2009) and WB (Melaku et al 2004) and ADF content of WB (Betsha and Melaku 2009). The CP content of hay used in this study was low and below the 7-8% required to satisfy CP for proper rumen function and feed intake in ruminants (Van Soest 1994).…”

Determination of ruminal dry matter and crude protein degradability and degradation kinetics of several concentrate feed ingredients in cashmere goat

“…The nutrient content of these feed ingredients had some differences with former reports (Prestløkken 1999;Cone et al 2002;Betsha & Melaku Means within the same row or column with different superscripts (a, b, and c for rows and A, B, C for columns) differ (P < .05). Table 5.…”

“…For example, the NDF and ADF content of WB were slightly lower than a former reporter (Betsha & Melaku 2009). Those differences may result from differences in plant growing conditions or industrial processing methods employed in different countries (Rezaeenia et al 2014;Riaz et al 2014).…”