UTILIZATION OF CASSAVA PEEL AND RUMEN EPITHELIAL WASTE DIETS BY WEST AFRICAN DWARF SHEEP

Abstract

Twenty West African dwarf, WAD, sheep were randomly divided into five groups of four sheep. Each group was randomly assigned to one of the 5 dietary treatments which consisted of cassava peels supplemented with 5 graded levels of rumen epithelial waste, REW at ratio 100:0(T1), 95:5(T2), 90:10(T3), 85:15(T4) and 80:20(T5) respectively, fed with a basal diet of Pennisetum purpureum grass in a complete randomized design. The study reported the effects of these dietary supplementation on dry matter intake DMI, body weight gain, N utilization, haematological and biochemical parameters. The general trend of the 100d - study was such that the performance characteristics (g/day) which included dry matter intake DMI, body weight gain, crude protein intake, and N retention (%) increased significantly (P < 0.05) across the treatments as the levels of REW supplementation increased.    Animals on diets T2 (95:5) to T5 (80:20) had significantly higher (P< 0.05) DMI and N retained (g/day/kgW^0.75) values than those on T1 (unsupplemented 100% cassava peels). Similarly, body weight  (P< 0.05) gain (g/day) was highest (80.15) in sheep fed diet T5 (80:20) and lowest (14.28) in those fed   control diet T1 (100.0). Sheep on (T5) also had significantly higher values (P< 0.05) for PCV (41%), RBC (9.25× 10⁶/ul), Hb concentration (12.5 g/dl) and total protein (7.45 g/dl) than those on other treatments. However, the result of study indicated that supplementation of cassava peel with REW at 20% level (diet T5) highly improved animal performance as evidenced by the outstanding responses (body weight gain 80.15g/day; DMI 71.06 g/day/kgW^0.75; and nitrogen retention 78.10 g/day/kgW^0.75) of the fed sheep. This is due to efficient nutrient utilization occasioned by high dietary protein content and palatability of T5 (80:20, cassava peel/REW mixture) diet.