The Replacement of Maize with graded level of Brewer’s Dried Grain (BDG) in the diet of weaner grasscutters

Abstract

A 40 Day feeding trial was conducted to determine the effect of replacing maize with brewer’s dried grain (BDG) in the diet of grass cutter. 20 growing grass cutter (males) with an average initial weight of 599 g were used for the experiment. Four grass cutter were allotted to each treatment in a completely randomized design. The body weight gain, feed efficiency ratio and protein efficiency ratio were recorded weekly. The result of the experiment showed that the control with 0% level of BDG had the highest feed conversion (1.51) and efficiency (0.66) ratios while the least feed conversion (3.95) and efficiency (0.25) ratios were recorded for treatment 5 (100% BDG inclusion). There was not significant difference (P < 0.05) in feed intake among the treatments means. However the body weight gain differed significantly (P < 0.05). It was concluded that BDG can be used to replace maize in the diet of grass cutters up to 75% level of inclusion without negative effect on the performance of grass cutters.

Key words: Protein efficiency, feed efficiency, grass cutters, Brewer’s Dry Grain (BDG).