Abstract 552

The nutritive value of four arable farm by-products commonly fed to dairy cattle by small scale farmers in Kenya. II. The utilization of nutrients by wether sheep.

Kevelenge,-JEE; Said,-AN; Kiflewahid,B

Dep. of Anim. Production, Nairobi Univ., Nairobi, Kenya.

Tropical-Animal-Production. 1983, 8: 3, 171-179; 47 ref.

Intake and utilization of nutrients by wether sheep fed on (a) maize stalks, (b) maize cobs, (c) sugarcane stalks and (d) sugarcane tops were studied in in vivo trials at Kitale. Mean daily DM and OM intakes were significantly different between the feeds but all feeds except (c) were readily accepted. Daily OM intake was 60.4, 31.3, 22.1 and 48.4 g/kg liveweight0.75 for (a), (b), (c) and (d), resp. Intake of ME varied from 2.2 to 10.0 MJ/day, with (b) and (c) providing less than the requirement. Daily mean liveweight changes were +350, -110, -510 and -10 g and DM digestibility was 63.8, 60.1, 60.8 and 54.3% for (a), (b), (c) and (d), resp. Liveweight changes varied in relation to ME content.

This abstract relates to the following species:

Zea mays, Zea mays, Zea mays