Nutritional Evaluation of Sunnhemp (Crotalaria Juncea) Hay as Sole Roughage and Their Use in Complete Ration for Sheep

The siimnhemp (Crotalaria juncea) fodder harvested at flowering stage, was processed into hay and evaluated for nutritive value using for Nellore brown ram lambs (18.8 ±0.70 kg) in first experiment. The DM intake was 543 g/d. The DCP and TDN value of sunnhemp hay was 11.5 and 55.1%, respectively. In the second experiment, four isoraitrogenous complete rations (CR) were formulated by replacing groundnut haulms by sunnhemp hay at 0 (CR-1), 15 (CR-2), 30 (CR-3) and 45 (CR-4) parts (WAV) and evaluated in a 4x4 Latin Square design using 4 Nellore brown ram lambs (16.7±0.5 kg). Increasing the sunnhemp hay in the complete rations decreased the digestibilities of OM, CF and NFE linearly (P<0.01). All animals were in positive N, Ca and P balances. DCPand TDN of CR-1 to CR-4 were 8.24 and 68.30; 8.33 and 68.60; 8.34 and 64.98 and 8.55 and 64.08 per cent, respectively. It is concluded that sunnhemp hay can be safely incorporated upto 45% level in complete rations of sheep under intensive system of feeding.