White Lupin (Lupinus albus) Grain and Wheat Bran Mixture Supplementation Effects on Feed Utilization and Growth Performance of Washera Sheep Fed Teff (Eragrostis teff ) Straw as a Basal Diet
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Abstract
An experiment was designed to evaluate the effects of processed white lupin grain (PWLG) and wheat bran (WB) mixture supplementation on feed intake, digestibility, body weight change, and economic feasibility of the feed treatments using Washera sheep. Twenty-five intact yearling sheep with a mean initial body weight (IBW) of 15.7 ± 0.19 kg (mean ± SD) were divided into five groups, with five animals in each group, and treatments were randomly allocated to each animal in a group (block). The treatments were teff straw ad libitum + 70 g WB (T1, control), T1 + 75% WB + 25% PWLG (T2), T1 + 50% WB + 50% PWLG (T3), T1 + 25% WB + 75% PWLG (T4), and T1 + 100% PWLG (T5). The results showed that teff straw contained 4.6% crude protein (CP) and 76.5% neutral detergent fiber (NDF), while PWLG and WB contained more than 7- and 2-times crude protein over teff straw in that order. The results of the study also indicated that significant (p <0.0001) increments in dry matter (DM) intake (705 g to 884 g) and other intakes were recorded when the proportion of PWLG in a mixture was increased from 0 to 75% (T1 to T4) while declined intakes (except crude protein intake) were observed when the proportion of PWLG reached to 100% (T5). Likewise, dry matter and nutrient digestibility, feed-to-body weight conversion efficiency, and in turn average daily gain (6.67 to 64 g/day) were increased when the proportion of PWLG in a mixture was increased from 0 to 75% (T1 to T4) while declining when the level of PWLG reached 100% (T5) indicating T4 (25% WB and 75 PWLG) is the optimum level of this mixture. Net return and marginal return also followed similar trends. Therefore, it could be suggested that 25% WB and 75% PWLG mixture supplementation is cost-effective to increase the body weight and then a better economic return of Washera sheep.
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