Effect of Supplementation Dried Sesbania Sesban (L.) Leaf on Performance of Abergelle Rams

Abstract

The study was undertaken with an objective to evaluate the effect of supplementation of dried Sesbania sesban leaf (SSL) on feed intake, body weight gain and cost benefit analysis of the feeding regimes for Abergelle rams under farmer’s management system in Tigray region, northern Ethiopia. The experiment was carried out using 21 yearling intact Abergelle rams with initial body weight of 22.83 + 3.11 Kg (mean + standard deviation). The experiment comprised 90 days of feeding trial following 14 days of adaption period. Farmers having 3 yearling intact rams were first purposively identified and 7 farmers were randomly selected. Randomized complete block design with 4 treatments and 7 replications was applied. The treatments were local feeding practices (T1), local feeding practices + 250 g/day dried SSL (T2) and local feeding practices ₊ 300 g/day dried SSL (T3). The OM, CP and NDF contents of dried SSL were 89.70%, 23.34% and 25.90%, respectively. The DM, OM, CP, NDF, ADF and ADL intake of dried SSL supplemented rams were significantly higher (p< 0.0001) for T3 than T2. The average daily gain (ADG) of Abergelle rams in T2 and T3 were significantly higher (p<0.0001) than T1 but, similar in T2 and T3. The ADG were 28.98 g, 67.96 g and 75.71 g for T1, T2 and T3, respectively. Supplementation of dried SSL for Abergelle rams provided more profit compared to unsupplemented rams. Though T2 and T3 given comparable results in terms of body weight gain, the marginal rate of return suggested that supplementation of dried SSL with 250 g/day than 300 g/day for Abergelle rams provided better economic gain and therefore, T2 is recommended as biological and economical sufficient supplementary regime for Abergelle rams.

Keywords: Ethiopia, Intake, Partial budget, Weight gain