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Feeding chopped sorghum stover to ethiopian sheep: effects of sorghum variety and amount offered on intake, digestibility and live-weight change

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 November 2017

ELK Osafo ,
E Owen ,
A N Said ,
M Gill ,
A B McAllan  and
J Sherington
ELK Osafo
Affiliation:
International Livestock Centre for Africa, PO Box 5689, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
E Owen
Affiliation:
Department of Agriculture, University of Reading, Earley Gate, PO Box 236, Reading, RG6 2AT
A N Said
Affiliation:
International Livestock Centre for Africa, PO Box 5689, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
M Gill
Affiliation:
Natural Resources Institute, Chatham Maritime, Chatham, ME4 4TB
A B McAllan
Affiliation:
Institute of Grassland & Environmental Research, Plas Gogerddan, Aberystwyth, SY23 3EB
J Sherington
Affiliation:
International Livestock Centre for Africa, PO Box 5689, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
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Extract

Previous experiments (Osafo, Owen, Said, Gill & McAllan, 1992), investigated the possibility of using low-input technology to improve intake of sorghum stover in sheep and cattle. Physical form of stover influenced intake differently in sheep and cattle; chopping stover increased intake in sheep but decreased intake in cattle.

In an earlier experiment in the same research project, Aboud, Owen, Reed, & McAllan (1990) offered sheep, chopped stovers from bird-resistant (BR) and non bird-resistant (NBR) sorghum. It was hypothesised that intake of BR stover would be lower on account of its higher content of anti-nutritional, polyphenolic compounds. The results were contrary to expectation. The higher leaf:stem in the BR stover was thought to counteract the anti-nutritional factors and account for the higher intake and growth with BR stover. In view of the differences in leaf-plus-sheath:stem ratios between the BR and NBR stovers, the experiment was considered inconclusive. Also the fact that the stovers were supplemented with cottonseed meal may have alleviated any detrimental effect of feeding NBR stover.

Type
Tropical Forages
Information
Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Production (1972) , Volume 1993: Winter meeting , March 1993 , pp. 200
Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Production 1993

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References

Aboud, A A O, Owen, E, Reed, J D & McAllan, A B. 1990. Feeding sorghum stover to Ethiopian sheep: effect of stover variety and amount offered on growth, intake and selection. Animal Production 50(3) : 160 (Abstr)Google Scholar
Osafo, E L K , Owen, E, Said, A N, Gill, M& McAllan, A B. 1992. Feeding sorghum stover to Ethiopian sheep and cattle: effect of chopping and amount offered on intake and selection. In: Animal Production in Developing Countries. Gill, M, Owen, E, Pollott, G E & Lawrence, T L J(eds). Occasional Publication No.16-British Society of Animal Production.Google Scholar