EFFECT OF Cajanus Cajan LEAF MEAL IN TOTAL MIXED RATIONS ON THE GROWTH PERFORMANCE OF WEST AFRICAN DWARF RAMS

Résumé

An experiment was carried out to investigate the growth performance of West African dwarf growing rams fed diets containing varying inclusion levels of Cajanus cajan leaf meal (CCLM) and Panicum maximum for 56 days feeding trial which was carried out at Teaching and Research Farm of Oyo State College of Agriculture and Technology Igbo-ora, Nigeria. A total of sixteen (16) growing WAD rams between 6 - 9 months with an average body weight of 9.00 -12.00kg were randomly allocated to 4 treatments with 4 animals per treatment while 2 animals served as replicate. The experimental diet was fed at 3% body weight of individual animals while Cajanus cajan leaf meal was supplemented in total mixed rations at varied inclusion levels (0%, 5%, 10% and 15%) with Panicum maximum. There were significant (P<0.05) difference in all parameters determined across the dietary treatments. The results revealed that rams fed diet T2 recorded the least daily weight gain (8.04g/d) while the highest daily weight gain (15.36g/d) was recorded in diet T4 that contained 15% inclusion level of CCLM. The weekly weight gain of rams was significantly different across all treatments (P<0.05). The feed conversion ratio (FCR) range between 22.03 – 41.16 showed significantly different across all treatments. Hence, rams fed diet T4 that contained 15% inclusion levels of CCLM in total mixed rations recorded the best feed utilization value of 22.03. It can be concluded that supplementation of CCLM in diets of growing rams up to 15% enhance the growth performance of the animals.