Effect of Pelleted Browse-Based Feed with a Basal Diet of Andropogon Gayanus for Sheep on Intake, Nutrient Digestibility and Some Haematological and Blood Biochemical Parameters.

The study was designed to evaluate the nutritional quality of pelleted diets based on four of the major feed resources fed to small ruminants by farmers in the Accra Plains. Leaves of Samanea saman, Acacia auriculiformis and Ficus exasperata and cassava peels were dried, mixed with other ingredients and pelleted. A preference trial showed sheep accepted all the four supplements with a marked preference for cassava peelsbased (CP-B) and Samanea saman-based (SL-B) supplements compared with Acacia auriculiformis-based (AL-B) and Ficus exasperata-based (FL-B) supplements (P<0.05). The supplements were subsequently fed to Eight West African Dwarf sheep on a basal diet of Andropogon gayanus (Gamba grass) hay in Latin square design. Dry matter intakes (DMI) did not differ by the type of supplement (P>0.05). However, crude protein intake (CPI) was higher (P<0.05) in sheep fed AL-B and FL-B than those fed SL-B and CP-B. Dry matter and neutral detergent fibre (NDF) digestibility were lowest (P<0.05) for sheep fed CP-B. Dietary treatments did not affect haematological parameters, except for neutrophil percentage which was higher (P<0.05) in sheep fed CP-B than those fed SL-B. Animals fed CP-B had the lowest monocyte concentrations (P<0.05). Furthermore, all the serum biochemical parameters were not affected by dietary treatment except total protein concentration which was highest (P<0.05) in sheep fed on AL-B. It is concluded that the feed resources available to the small ruminant keepers can be used to prepare pelleted supplements that are acceptable to sheep and help sustain appreciable performance on low quality forages during the dry season without any deleterious effects on intake, digestibility, physiology and health.