Cassava peels supplemented with ficus exasperata as feed for small ruminants

Three experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of cassava peel diet supplemented with various levels of dried leaves of Ficus exasperata on the intake, growth rate, digestibility, nitrogen balance, rumen pH and rumen ammonia levels of confined Djallonké sheep. Six diets:- Cassava peels only, cassava peels mixed with urea and sodium sulphate and cassava peels supplemented with 100, 200, 300 and 400 g of dried leaves of Ficus exasperata per head per day and designated as diets 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 respectively were fed in all the experiments. In the first experiment (growth rate studies), forty-eight (48) young Djallonké sheep of both sexes ranging in body weight from 8 - 13 kg were individually fed and watered ad libitum for 196 days and dry matter intake, daily bodyweight gain and feed conversion efficiency were determined. In the second experiment (dry matter degradability and rumen studies), four (4) rumen fistulated wethers of Djallonké X Sahel crossbred with mean body weight of 25 kg were used to determine the dry matter degradabilities of cassava peel and Ficus at various periods of incubation. Rumen pH changes and rumen ammonia levels were sampled at various periods post feeding. Each animal was fed each of the six (6) diets in a change over design. In the third experiment (metabolism studies) six (6) young Djallonké rams ranging in body weight from 11.6 to 12.8 kg were used in a Latin square design. Dry matter and organic matter intake, digestibilities of dry matter and organic matter and introgen balance were measured. In the growth rate studied, dietary treatments significantly (P <0.01) affected mean daily dry matter intake per unit metabolic body size. The mean daily dry matter intake increased with increasing levels of supplementation. There was no substitution of cassava peel by the supplement. The corresponding dry matter intake for sheep fed diets 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 were 48.02, 59.43, 64.71, 69.42, 77.42 and 72.52 g/kg W°75 respectively. Mean daily water intake per unit metabolic body size was significantly (P <0.05) influenced by dietary treatments. Sheep fed diet 2 drunk the least amount of water (75.60) followed sheep fed diet 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6 with a values of 84.00, 90.12, 95.75, 97.12 and 102.00 ml/kgW°75 respectively. Sheep fed diet I recorded a negative value (-25.28 g/day) for growth rate but those of sheep fed the rest of the diets were positive and ranged from 8.28 to 13.32 g/day. Feed conversion efficiency ranged from 0.02 to 0.04 kg gain/kg feed for diets 2 to 6. There were no significant (P >0.01) differences between these values. Rumen pH and ammonia levels were not significantly (P >0.05) influenced by dietary treatments. The rumen pH values ranged from 6.67 to 6.76 while rumen ammonia levels ranged from 88.96 to 121.78 mg/I. In the degradability studies, dietary treatments did not significantly (P >0.05) influence degradation constants for both cassava peel and Ficus. The value for dry matter degradability for each incubation period for both cassava peel and Ficus were not significantly (P >0.05) affected by the dietary treatments. In the metabolism studies, the mean daily dry matter and organic matter intake per unit metabolic body size were significantly (P <0.01) influenced by supplementation. The values increased with increasing level of supplementation. The mean daily dry matter intake of sheep fed diets 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 were 51.47, 64.56, 65.83, 74.42 82.86 and 88.13 g/kgw°75 respectively while the mean daily organic matter intake values were 49.91, 59.32, 58.19, 65.36, 72.23 and 76.50 g/kgw°75 respectively. Dry matter and organic matter digestibilities were significantly (P <0.01) affected by dietary treatments. The values decreased with increasing level of supplementation. The dry matter digestibility values for sheep fed diets 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 were 585.3, 487.2, 523.0, 468.0, 417.5 and 453.6 g/kgDM while the organic matter digestibility values were 646.4, 583.5, 618.7, 548.6, 509.9 and 539.2 g/kgDM respectively. When the sheep were fed the supplement only ad libitum, the dry matter and organic matter digestibilities were 226.0 and 75.5 g/kgDM respectively. Nitrogen balance value was negative for sheep fed diet 1. The value was - 0.995 g/day. There were no significant differences between the nitrogen balance values of sheep fed diets 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.

Source: KNUST