The study for evaluation purpose in vivo digestibility of three types of pellets based on green fodders, products and by-products maize and other food ingredients in the grasscutters. 24 grasscutters aged 7 months were used and divided into three groups of 8 animals. Grasscutter individually installed into digestibility cages were fed with three experimental feed pellets. During this test the average food consumption are varied to 44.24 ± 2.04 g at 65.17 ± 2.78 g. The apparent digestive utilisation coefficient in percentage for dry matter was 85.24 ± 0.01 for the pellet 1.79.84 ± 0.01 for pellet 2 and 84.05 ± 0.01 for the pellet 3. The digestibility of crude protein was valued at 92.53 ± 0.08% for the pellet 1, 85.03 ± 0.06% for the pellet 2 and 88.67 ± 0.02% for the pellet 3. The apparent digestive utilisation coefficient of the crude fiber was 78.94 ± 0.13%, 74.09 ± 0.12% and 75.48 ± 0.23 % respectively for the pellet 1, pellet 2 and pellet 3. A significant difference was observed between the apparent digestive utilisation coefficient of dry matter, crude protein and crude fiber for the three pellets (p<0.05). The pellet 1 is most digested by grass-cutters.
In order to investigate influence of feeding interval along with supplementation of growth promoter on the performance of quails; 150 day-old chicks were reared for 28 days, divided equally in groups A, B1, B2, C1 and C2. The birds in group A were fed ad libitum (control), while birds in group B1 fed for twenty hours, B2 fed for twenty hours also supplemented with growth promoter, group C1 fed for sixteen hours and C2 group was fed for sixteen hours also supplemented with growth promoter, respectively. The results showed that feed restriction and growth promoter had significant (P0.05) between the groups however, higher 92.3g/b in group B2 and 91.9 g/b for C2 than 91.2g/b, 86.9g/b and 86.0 g/b resulted for C1, B1 and A, respectively. FCR was highly significant (P0.05) between the groups however carcass weight was ranged from 43.7 g/b to 49.00 g/b in group A and C2 after 4 weeks and dressing percentage was ranged from 50.6 to 53.0 in groups A and C2. Data for liver, heart, gizzard and non-edible parts were statistically non-significant (P>0.05) between the groups. Quails of group B2 generated higher net profit of 10.409 than C2, C1, B1 and A generated income of 10.334, 9.334, 7.525 and 5.578 Rs/quail, respectively.
The objective of the study was to investigate the effect of cock: hen ratio on the reproductive performance of Koekoek chickens. Fifty seven hens and nine cocks were randomly allocated to three cock: hen ratio treatments in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). The cock: hen treatments were 1: 3, 1: 6 and 1: 10 at 37 weeks of age. The birds were allocated into nine pens and each treatment was replicated three times. Thirty eggs were incubated from each replicate hence 270 eggs were used. Data was collected and analyzed using SPSS (17.00). The results revealed that the chickens that were assigned to cock: ratio of 1: 10 performed similar to the ones in the sex ratios of 1: 3 and 1: 6 in terms of fertility. Cock: hen ratio did not have any effect on hatching percentage and embryo mortality. Therefore, when looking at the cost of raising cocks and the level of infighting among the cocks, it would be advisable for the farmers to rear one cock for every ten hens. Koekoek chickens, egg size, fertility rate, hatchability, embryo mortality
This study aims to evaluate the efficiency of a feed ingredient with probiotic properties (FIPP) on growth performances of Giant White Bouscat red eye rabbits. The experiment was carried out during 56 days on 150 weaned rabbits in Cuniglo farm in Southern of Benin. Rabbit had 35 days-old and weighted on average 669.94 ± 69.55 g. The experimental design was a randomized complete block with five dietary treatments (TF0, T0, T1.5, T3 and T4.5) and six replicates per treatment. TF0 rabbits were fed with the control diet and received antibiotics, T0 rabbits were fed only with the control diet; T1.5, T3 and T4.5 rabbits were fed with the control diet supplemented with 1.5%, 3% and 4.5% of FIPP respectively. The results showed that the rabbits fed TF0, T1.5 and T3 had the best weight performances compare to those fed T0 and T4.5% dietary treatments. Hematological, mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) (p=0.058) and lymphocyte (LYM) are improved with the supplementation of FIPP. The lowest feed cost was in T3 (1815 FCFA/kg weight gain) followed by TF0 (1812 FCFA/kg weight gain); T1.5 (1860 FCFA/kg weight gain); T0 (2144 FCFA/kg weight gain) and T4.5 (2859 FCFA / kg weight gain). The economic feed efficiency had the same trends as feed costs. We can conclude that FIPP at concentrations of 1.5% and 3% had an effect on growth performances and on blood characteristics of rabbits.
The experiment was conducted to determine the effect of groundnut meals on the carcass yield, internal organs and meat quality of rabbits. Three groundnut meals namely, conventional groundnut cake (CGNC), locally made groundnut cake (LMGC) and toasted groundnut seed (kernel) meal (TGSM) were incorporated in rabbit diets at two levels to generate six diets: 18% CGNC, 22% CGNC, 18% LMGC, 22% LMGC, 18% TGSM and 22% TGSM respectively, and 18% CGNC also served as the control. Twenty four (24) six weeks-old growing rabbits of mixed breeds and sexes with mean initial weight of 568.75 ±12.85g were randomly allocated to the dietary treatments combination. Each treatment had 4 rabbits; one per replicate, in a CRD, laid out on a 2X3 factorial arrangement and fed ad libitum, for 70 days. Three animals per treatment combination (18 altogether) were sacrificed for carcass yield, internal organs and meat quality evaluation and data analyzed on main effects only: sources of groundnut had 6 rabbits per group and level of inclusion had 9 per group. The average final weights and rib relative weights of rabbits fed TGSM were significantly depressed (p0.05). Other carcass parameters and internal organs were similar (p>0.05) among the dietary groups. Meat quality was significantly affected (p
Data on 1333 lambing of Akkaraman sheep from 2014 to 2016 in the Yarma village of Konya province in Turkey was analyzed. Gestation length averaged 152.34±0.36 days, and was affected by dam age (P˂0.01). In contrast, year, birth type, sex of the lamb and the weight of the lamb did not significantly influence gestation length. In terms of ewe ages the gestation length ranged from 151.05-153.93 days. The longest gestation was found for ewes aged 7 years (153.93±1.91days). This research showed that the gestation length in Akkaraman sheep was not affected by most of the factors investigated, except for age of dam.
The study aims to determine morphometric parameters of North and South ecotypes of Djallonke sheep of Benin by age and type of birth.Data were collected from November 2013 to December 2015 on 462 sheeps of North ecotype and 599 of South ecotype.These data were analyzed with SAS software (2006).It appears that all morphometric traits depend on the ecotype of sheep except body length.Indeed, the sheep of North ecotype were heavier (P<0.001)than south ecotype sheep and had recorded the greater wither's height (P<0.001) with the higher values of head length, shoulders width, hip length, tail length and cannon perimeter.Similarly, chest perimeter of sheep of North ecotype was 59.64 cm to 57.9 cm for South ecotype (P<0.05).The values of live weight, head length, body length, hip length, tail length and height at wither increased very significantly with the age of animals (P<0.001).The single born lambs weighed heavier than lambs born from twin, triple and quadruple litter size, and had the highest body length, shoulder width and wither's height (P<0.01).As for correlations, from the cannon perimeter which is slightly and positively associated with live weight (r=0.12;P<0.05), weakly and positively associated with head length (r=0.16;P<0.01), the other measured morphometric parameters were strongly and positively associated with live weight (0.30 ≤ r ≤ 0.85; P<0.001) and head length (0.26≤ r ≤ 0.81; P<0.001).Therefore, selection based on one trait will improve the other traits as a correlated response.
The study was carried out to determine the effect of feed supplementation of dams on improving the performance of Mubende goat kids and their Boer cross-breeds under extensive production systems in Mbarara and Sembabule Districts, Uganda. Goat kids are the most vulnerable component of communal goat flocks and increasing their survival could increase productivity. The experiment was a randomized block design with three dietary treatments, T1 (control with no supplementation and no animal health management) T2 (goats supplemented with concentrate diet), and T3 (goats supplemented plus health management). High birth weights were registered in T2 and T3 in both wet and dry season. Birth weights for single and male born by goats in all treatments were significantly heavier to their counter parts. This difference among kids continued up to weaning in all dietary treatments. High mortality rate was observed in T1 and more occurrences in the wet season. Concentrate supplementation resulted in a higher supply of nutrients to the dam and fetus.
