Scarcity and seasonality of supply of cereals (for human and livestock feed) causes fluctuation in quantity, quality and increase in feed cost. This results in poor livestock growth, low reproductive performance and high production cost. Prosopis juliflora pods have been used to mitigate this, but success has been hampered by their high content of anti-nutritive compounds (ANC); tannins, crude fibre (CF) phytic acid and aflatoxins. Fermentation has been reported to reduce ANC concentrations. ...
Poultry farmers use a variety of non-conventional feed ingredients including rumen contents (RC) in order to be competitive. However, lack of appropriate knowledge on RC use limits famers to achieve optimum production. This study evaluated extent of use of RC in livestock diets and the effect of dried goat rumen contents (DGRC) as a partial replacement for fishmeal in broiler and layer diets was investigated in a bid to reduce feed costs. Extent of RC use in livestock diets was done by admini...
Abstract/Overview In view of the emerging challenges of climate change and population growth, the need to ensure consumer health safety among other factors is paramount; this practice has not been standardised, and the health risks and impacts on the environment arising from the practice are not known. While the global consumption of chicken products especially chicken meat drastically increased over the years and the trend is expected to continue. Much of the increase in demand is in the...
Abstract/Overview Feeding accounts for 65-70% cost of production in a chicken enterprise. Fishmeal has primarily been used as a source of protein in chicken feed owing to its excellent nutritional value. However, due to its unstable supply and variation in quality, recent studies have focused on finding alternative protein feedstuff, such as edible insects. A study was carried out to evaluate the effects of substituting fishmeal (FM) with Blattela germanica meal (BGM) on the growth of chi...
An evaluation of nutritional value of rumen digesta in ruminant diets was investigated in 5 Experiments. Experiment I, the effect of four different treatment methods (sun-dried, oven-dried, fermented, and urea-fermented) on chemical composition, in vitro digestibility and microbial quality of Rumen digesta from the Bolgatanga abattoir collected in four climatic seasons (early wet season [EWS], main wet season [MWS], early dry season [EDS], and late dry season [LDS]. The experiment was conduct...
Abstract: Twenty five yearling male Begait sheep with initial body weight (BW) of 28.02± 1.49 (mean ± SD) were used to evaluate the effect of supplementation of cowpea (Vigna unguiculat) hay (CPH), wheat bran (WB) and their mixtures to sheep fed grass hay (GH) on feed intake, digestibility, average daily gain (ADG), carcass characteristics, skin quality and economic feasibility. Experimental sheep were blocked in to five blocks based on initial body weight and randomly assigned to the five...
Abstract: Different species and varieties of fodder oats and vetches were identified to successfully adapt and perform in the high lands of Bale. However, their feeding value was not well evaluated. Therefore, animal experiment was conducted using thirty five yearling intact male Arsi-Bale sheep with initial body weight of 21.4±0.6 Kg (Mean± SD) with the objective of investigating the varietal differences of vetch hay on feed intake, digestibility, body weight change and carcass characteri...
INTRODUCTION Small ruminant production is an important agricultural activity and has a substantial contribution to smallholder farmers in generating income and securing food in developing countries (Kosgey et al., 2006). In Ethiopia, like other developing countries in sub Saharan Africa, small ruminant production is a major component of the livestock sector. According to CSA (2015) report, the total small ruminant population for the country is estimated to be about 58.4 million, out of which ...
Abstract: The study was conducted to evaluate effects of dietary inclusion of Tossign (Thymus schimperi Ronninger) as natural feed additives in ration to modulate rumen fermentation and improve productivity of dairy cows. Eight multiparous early lactating crossbred (Holstein Fresian × Borana) dairy cows of parity two through five with similar live weight and milk production were selected for the study. Treatments were dietary inclusion of the powder of edible leaves and twigs of thyme (Thym...
Abstract: his study was conducted to investigate the effects of different levels of pumpkin seed(Cucurbitaceae) in the dieton egg production, fertility, hatchability, egg quality, embryonic mortality and economic benefit of white leghorn layers at Haramaya University Poultry Farm. A total of 128 White Leghorn layer at an age of 26 weeks were randomly assigned in to 4 treatments diets in completely randomized design with 4 replications, using deep litter housing system.The four treatment rati...
Abstract: A study was conducted in Kurfa Chele District of East Hararghe Zone with the objective of identifying major browse species as livestock feed and evaluate their herbage biomass yield, chemical composition and IVDMD in wet and dry season. Six rural Kebeles were purposively selected for the study. A total of 90 farmers, 15 from each rural Kebeles were randomly selected as respondents. Semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Survey data were analyzed by SPSS software, w...
Abstract: A study was conducted to evaluate effect of supplementation of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) hay and urea molasses block on feed Intake, digestibility, body weight change and carcass characteristics of yearling local sheep fed with grass hay as basal diet. Twenty-four yearling intact male local sheep with mean initial body weight of 23.9±1.9 (Mean ± SD) were used in completely randomized block design. Treatments were grass hay fed ad libitum to all treatments plus 1% of live weigh...
Abstract: The present study was undertaken in Sululta district, Oromia Special Zone Surrounding Finfinne, Ethiopia with the objectives of analyzing technical efficiency in cow milk production and identifying factors that determine technical efficiency. Cross sectional data from randomly selected sample of 130 milk producing households were collected to obtain data pertaining to milk production, input usage, and other variables including natural, socioeconomic and institutional factors during...
Abstract: The effect of feeding different levels of baker’s yeast on feed intake, daily body weight gain (ADG), feed conversion ratio (FCR), blood constituents, carcass characteristics and profitability of the rations of Cobb 500 broiler chicks was studied. Four nearly isocaloric and isonitrogenous starter and finisher rations were prepared according to the recommendation of National Research Council (NRC). Unsexed 240 Cobb 500 chicks with an average initial body weight of 42.75±0.71g wer...
Abstract: The study was conducted to investigate the effect of mixtures of Ruta Graveolen (Ruta chalepensis L.), coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.), and basil (Ocimum basilicum) seed extracts in drinking water on productive performance, some blood profiles, egg quality, egg chemical composition, and economic benefit of white leghorn at Haramaya University poultry farm for 8 weeks. One hundred eighty White Leghorns (WL) layer at twenty- six weeks of age were randomly distributed to four treatm...