EFFECT OF FEEDING GRADED-LEVELS OF LEUCAENA-LEUCOCEPHALA, LEUCAENA-PALLIDA, SESBANIA-SESBAN AND CHAMAECYTISUS-PALMENSIS SUPPLEMENTS TO TEFFSTRAW GIVEN TO ETHIOPIAN HIGHLAND SHEEP

The effect of feeding graded levels of Leucaena leucocephala, Leucaena pallida, Sesbania sesban and Chamaecytisus palmensis supplements on i ntake, digestibility and Live weight changes was evaluated using 102 m ale Ethiopian highland sheep in a 90-day trial. Teff straw (Eragrostis tef) was fed ad libitum (control diet), or supplemented with graded l evels (15, 30, 45, 60% of ration dry matter intake) of L. leucocephala , L. pallida, C. palmensis cr S. sesban in a randomized complete block design. Significant (P < 0.05) decrease in teff straw intake was obse rved, as the level of supplement increased. Substitution rates (g kg(- 1) supplement) increased with increasing levels of supplementation. Su bstitution rate varied from 162 to 528 in L. pallida, -89 to 312 in L. leucocephala, -566 to 231 in 5. sesban and -10 to 134 in C. palmensis supplemented diets. Dry matter and digestible organic matter intake i ncreased significantly (P < 0.05) with increasing level of L. leucocep hala, C. palmensis and S. sesban, but not in L. pallida. Live weight g ain increased significantly (P < 0.01) with increasing level of browse supplementation. The animals fed the control diet lost weight (-24.4 g d(-1)) while the supplemented ones gained weight in the range of 6.5 -65.2 g d(-1). The maximum Live weight gain (65.2 g d(-1)) was observe d in sheep fed a diet with 60% L. pallida. The optimum levels of brows e supplementation in terms of Live weight gain per g supplement were 4 5, 45, 30, 30% DM of total ration for L. leucocephala, L. pallida, C. palmensis and S. sesban, respectively. A close relationship between Li ve weight gain and amount of supplement was observed. The digestibilit ies of DM, OM, N and supplement DM increased significantly (P < 0.05) with increasing level of supplementation. No significant(P > 0.05) dif ferences were observed in NDF digestibility. Faecal nitrogen, urinary nitrogen output and nitrogen retention increased significantly (P < 0. 0001) with level of supplementation. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. Al l rights reserved.