NUTRIENT INTAKE AND GROWTH PERFORMANCE OF GROWING YANKASA SHEEP FED UREA ENSILED SESAME CHAFF SUPPLEMENTED WITH VARYING PROPORTION OF PROTEIN AND ENERGY SOURCES

An eighty four days experiment was conducted to evaluate the nutrient intake and growth performance of Yankasa sheep of an average weight of 25 + 2 kg fed combinations of proteins and energy concentrates with urea ensiled sesame chaff basal diets. The diets were 1:1 Cotton seed cake/wheat offal, 1:1 cotton seed cake/maize bran,1:1 Groundnut cake/ wheat, 1:1 Groundnut cake/maize bran, 1:2 Cotton seed cake/wheat offal, 1:2 Groundnut cake/maize bran for treatments1,2,3,4,5 and 6 respectively. The experiment was completely a randomized design with six treatments of five animals each as replicates. The basal diets and water were offered adlibitum, while the concentrates were fed at 150g morning and afternoon. The silage produced was light brown, pleasant aroma, slightly acidic with an average temperature of 35.3 0 C. The results of the basal diet intake (1221.43–1259.52g/day), total feed intake (1521.43–1595.52 g/day), Dry matter intake (1401.52 – 1450.12g/day), Organic matter intake (1067.89–1123.05 g/day), crude protein intake (201.83g–230.64/day), ADFI (511.16– 573.45g/day), NDFI (1054.12–1150.28g/day) and water (5.42–5.67 kg/day) ware significantly    (P>0.05) affected by the dietary treatments. Supplement intake (300g/day) was not affected across the diets. Also, results of final weight (31.70 – 35.20 kg), weight change (7.20–7.90 kg) and average daily gain (79.12–86.81g/day) were not affected across the diets. However, field conversion ratio was best for animals fed diet 2 (16.24). It is concluded that, diet 2 yield a better results in term of nutrient intake and growth performance of Yankasa sheep. It is recommended that urea ensiled sesame chaff diet can be fed to sheep with 150g and 150g of mixtures of CSC and WO at 150g morning and afternoon on daily basis respectively.