NAPIER OR GROUNDNUT HAY AS SUPPLEMENTS IN DIETS OF SHEEP CONSUMING POOR QUALITY NATURAL PASTURE HAY .1. EFFECT ON INTAKE AND DIGESTIBILITY

Three experiments, each of a 5 x 5 Latin square design, were carried o ut using sheep to assess the effect of supplementing poor quality natu ral pasture (veld) hay with graded levels of napier or groundnut hay o n intake and digestibility. In Expt I, napier hay was fed at 0, 100, 2 00, 300 g/day or ad libitum. In Expt 2 the same levels of feeding were used with groundnut hay, while in Expt 3 napier and groundnut hay wer e each fed at 0, 150 or 300 g/day to enable a direct comparison of the two supplemental forages. All the forages used were chopped to a part icle size of about I cm prior to feeding. The veld hay was supplemente d with 1 percent urea and was always offered ad libitum. The forage su pplements were fed separately. In all the experiments, the forage supp lements increased total feed intake (P < 0.05). In Expt 1, total feed intake was greatest with the daily supplement of 300 g napier. The for age supplements did not reduce intake of veld hay. After correcting fo r differences in the digestibility, intake of veld hay was always grea ter than anticipated if there had been simple substitution. Although t he forage supplements increased digestibility, differences were only s ignificant (P < 0.05) between the 0 and 300 g forage supplemented diet s. In all the experiments, nitrogen retention was also increased by su pplementation (P < 0.05). Response to supplementation was similar betw een groundnut and napier. These results demonstrated that small amount s of forage supplements can be effective in increasing nutrient intake when animals consume poor quality forages. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.