Ali J Shamhuna
Department of Livestock Development & Production, Ministry of Agriculture, Zanzibar, Tanzania.* Abstract only corrected manuscript not received for inclusion in published proceedings.
Abstract
Two trials were conducted to investigate daily weight gains of yearling bulls fed rations containing various combinations of crop and agro-industrial by-products. In the first trial, the performance of yearling bulls fed urea-treated rice straw was compared with that of those fed untreated rice straw supplemented with leucaena. During the 22 days trial period, the group fed untreated rice straw with leucaena gained more liveweight than those fed treated rice straw alone.
In the second trial two groups of five yearling bulls each were fed on two combinations of banana whole plant and Napier grass, the first group with a ratio of 60:40, and the second, a 40:60 ratio of banana - Napier on dry basis respectively. Records of liveweight gains were taken during the 7 months trial period. During the initial period, each group showed a gain in weight with the group fed the 40:60 ratio performing better. However, later the animals lost weight due to outbreaks of worm infestation and Lumpy skin disease. Because of these disease outbreaks, it was not possible to obtain conclusive results. However, the trials demonstrated that the materials examined can be effectively utilized by ruminants.
