Feed intake, digestibility, body weight change and carcass parameters of black head Somali sheep supplemented with local brewery by-product (Tata) and concentrate mix

Kebede Gelgelo, Getachew Animut¹ and Mengistu Urge¹

Dilla University, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Department of Animal and Range Sciences, P O Box 419, Gedeo Zone, Dilla, Ethiopia
kebedegelgelo@yahoo.com
¹ Haramaya University, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, School of Animal and Range Sciences, P O Box 138, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia

Abstract

This study was conducted at Konso woreda (southern Ethiopia) to evaluate feed intake, digestibility, body weight gain and carcass parameters of Black Head Somali sheep. The experiment consisted of four treatments; and conducted in a randomized complete block design using twenty four sheep. The treatments were grass hay ad libitum fed alone (Control), hay+300g Tata (HT); hay+300g concentrate mix (HC); and hay+150g concentrate mix +150g Tata (HCT).

Total DM and CP intakes as well as the apparent digestibility were all improved by supplementation with relatively better responses in HCT. The concurrent advantage of supplementing concentrate mix together with tata is clearly observed in the DM and OM digestibility of animals in HCT treatment which had higher values (P<0.001) than the other two supplemented treatments (HT and HC) and control treatment as well. Supplemented animals had higher average daily gain and rib eye area (P<0.001) as compared to control. Animals supplemented with tata (HT) showed similar performance to those supplemented with concentrate mix (HC treatment) in hot carcass weight, empty body weight and dressing percentages. The results of this study highlighted that tata has a feeding potential similar to concentrate mix, and can replace concentrate mix as a supplement to sheep fed a basal diet of hay grass.

Key Words: Atella, chaqa, offals

Introduction

Small ruminants are very important livestock species in Ethiopia and play an important role in improving the income of poor farmers, poverty and hunger alleviation. Most importantly, they contribute a major role in the country development plan (Solomon et al 2010). Feed insufficiency, both in terms of quality and quantity, was reported as a major bottleneck for the productivity and productivity of the sub sector (Girma and Arthur 2009). The livestock feed supply in Ethiopia is based on natural pasture, hay and crop residues. Despite their vast use as a livestock feed, crop residues are naturally of low quality and do not fulfill the nutrient requirement of animals. They have low crude protein content in the range of 3–13% of the dry matter (Alemu 2008).

Improving the nutritive value of low quality feed resources is a major part of feeding management practice. Among the technologies used to do so is supplementation of agro-industrial by-products (Ben Salem et al 2004). Supplementation with conventional agro - industrial by-products is limited by low availability and localized distribution of processing plants. Non-conventional agro-industrial by-products such as traditional brewery/liquor residues (locally called Atella) are widely used by smallholder livestock farmers in Ethiopia, mainly due to their low cost and availability in most household localities (Mekasha et al 2003).

Tata is another grain by-product obtained from a local drink known as ‘ chaqa’. Chaqa is a local alcoholic drink most common in Konso, southern Ethiopia, and its surrounding. It is brewed from cereal grains, either maize or sorghum. The ingredients are allowed to ferment for extended periods (usually 3-6 days) and the fermented product was brewed to obtain chaqa for human consumption. Tata is used as feed by livestock of all types (cattle, small ruminants and poultry). Despite its role as livestock feed, no research is done on the feeding value, nutrient composition of tata and its effect on animal performance. Thus, this research was proposed to look into feed intake, digestibility, body weight change and carcass parameters of Black Head Somali sheep supplemented with the local brewery by product (tata) and concentrate mix or the mixture of the two supplements.

Materials and methods

The study area

The experiment was conducted at Konso Woreda Office of Agriculture and Rural Development compound, Southern Ethiopia. Konso is one of the woredas in the Segen Area People’s Zone of Southern Nation Nationalities and Peoples Regional State (SNNPRS). It is located about 600 Km south of Addis Ababa at 5^o10^’–5^o 40’ N latitude and 37^o 00’ – 37^o 40’E longitude. It lies between 501- 2000 meters above sea level. The mean annual temperature of the woreda ranges between 17.6-27.50 ºC. The mean annual rainfall ranges between 601-1200 mm (SNNPRS 2008)

Experimental animals and their management

Twenty-four intact male yearling Black Head Somali sheep with mean body weight of 14.5Kg were purchased from the local market. The animals were quarantined for 21 days at the experimental site in order to let them get acclimatized to the environment. They were vaccinated against pasteurellosis and anthrax. They were also de-wormed against internal parasites and sprayed against external parasites. The experimental sheep were identified with neck collars.

Feed preparation and feeding

The basal diet for this experiment was natural grass hay. Concentrate mix was prepared from nougseed cake and wheat bran in 1:2 ratios. Tata was purchased from the area that brew chaqa (the local drink in Konso area from which tata is obtained), sun dried and stored in safe place until fed. The hay was chopped to size of approximately 5 cm and fed at about 20% refusals to make sure animal are fed ad libitum along with water and common salt licks while supplement feeds were offered at 0800 and 1600 hour in two equal portions daily.

Experimental design and treatments

The experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design with four treatments and six replications. At the end of the quarantine period the sheep were fasted overnight and initial body weigh was measured (mean initial body weight =14.48±2.29 Kg). Animals were then blocked into six groups of four animals each on the basis of their initial weight. Animals within a block were randomly assigned to the four treatments summarized as follows.

Hay ad libtum alone; Hay ad libtum + 300g tata (HT); Hay ad libtum + 300g concentrate mix (HC); Hay ad libtum + 150g tata + 150g concentrate mix (HCT)

Feeding trial

Feeding trial was conducted for the first 90 days of experimental work after 15 days adaptation of animals to the treatment diets. Feed offer and orts of each animal was weighed every day and recorded to measure the daily feed intake as difference between that offered and refused. Animals were fasted overnight at the beginning of the feeding trial and an average weight of two consecutive measurements was taken as an initial weight. Weight gain was calculated as the difference between final and initial body weights. Average daily gain (ADG) was calculated as a weight gain divided by the number of feeding days. Feed conversion efficiency (FCE) was estimated as a ratio of ADG per units of feed consumed.

Digestibility

Digestibility trial was conducted for 10 days, 3 days of animals’ adaptation to fecal harness and 7 days of feces collection. 20% of the daily fecal excretion was sampled, allowed to dry under sun and pooled over the collection period to make a single weekly composite fecal sample for each animal. Apparent digestibility of DM, OM. CP, NDF and ADF was calculated as:

Carcass evaluation

All sheep were fasted overnight, weighed and slaughtered. Empty body weight was determined by subtracting weight of gut content from the slaughter weight. Blood, kidney, kidney fat, omental fat, heart, liver, head with tongue, empty gut and testis were considered as total edible offals (TEO) while gut fill, skin with feet, penis with urinary bladder, spleen, lungs with trachea and esophagus were considered as total non-edible offals (TNEO). Dressing percentage was calculated as a ratio of hot carcass weight and slaughter weight or empty body weight. Rib eye area was measured by dissecting the carcass between 12^th and 13 ^th ribs and average value on left and right rib was taken based on the recommendation of Torell and Suverly (2004).

Chemical analysis

Samples of feed offered, refusals and feces were analyzed for their chemical composition. DM, CP and ash were determined according to methods of the AOAC (1990). NDF, ADF and ADL were analyzed according to the procedures of Van Soest and Robertson (1985).

Statistical analysis

The data were subjected to statistical analysis of variance (ANOVA). The experimental data were analyzed by using the general linear model procedure of SAS (SAS 2004). Treatment means were separated using the least significant difference test (LSD). Data were analyzed using the ANOVA model for randomized complete block design given below:-

Yij= μ+ τi + ßj + εij

Where Yij = is the response variable; μ= is the overall mean; τi= is treatment effect

ßj= is the block effect; εij= is the random error

Results and discusion

Chemical composition of experimental feeds

The chemical composition of the feeds used in the present study is given in Table 1. The CP content of the grass hay used in the present study was very low, below the maintenance requirement of the sheep (Van Soest 1994). This indicates that the grass hay is of poor quality revealing necessity of supplementary feeding for animals feeding on such a grass. Low CP content for grass hay comparable to that noted in this study has been reported previously (Mulu 2005; Bruk 2008).

The CP content of NSC in this study is comparable with the 29.4% CP content reported by Tesfaye (2008) whereas the CP of wheat bran in the current study lower than the value of 20.1% (Simret 2005). These variations may arise from differences in the raw materials used and the efficiency in the method of processing employed.

The CP content of tata, indicates that it is among the medium protein feeds. According to Lonsdale (1989), Feeds having protein below 120 g/Kg DM are classified as low protein feed, while those feeds having protein between 120–200 and above 200 g/Kg DM are classified as medium and high protein feeds, respectively. The chemical analysis result of tata shows that the product can replace other commercial protein supplements which are too expensive and not affordable by low income farmers.

Feed intake

The daily hay DM intake was not affected by supplementation in this study (Table 2). The supplemented animals were similar among them selves but consumed higher total DM than control treatment (Hay fed sheep). This is an indication of the positive influence of supplementation on the total DM intake of the experimental sheep.

Improvement in total DM and nutrient intake due to supplementation is a common observation in different studies. For instance, feed intake of Horro lambs fed Vetch (Lathyrus sativus) haulm was improved by supplementation with wheat bran, Acacia albida leaf meal or their mixtures (Takele 2010). In the present study, CP intake was lower in control treatment than all other treatments. Among the supplemented treatments, HC treatment had higher CP intake than HT treatment. This observation appeared to be due to the higher CP content of the concentrate mix as compared to tata.

Dry matter and nutrient digestibility

Apparent DM digestibility coefficient was lowest for control treatment, highest for HCT treatment and intermediate for the other two treatments (Table 3). Similar to this OM digestibility coefficient was also highest in HCT treatment than all other treatments. These results indicate that provision of both local brewery by-product “tata” as a supplements together with concentrate mix for animals brings better improvement in nutrient digestibility than supplementing them separately.

The DM and nutrient digestibility coefficients in this study shows that supplementation of poor quality feeds such as hay with medium (WB and tata) and high (NSC) protein feeds significantly improved the apparent DM and nutrients in animals.

Body weight change

The supplemented groups achieved higher final body weight than Hay (control) treatment, but values for the supplemented treatments did not differ from each other (Table 4). Body weight gain, average daily weight gain and feed conversion efficiency follow a similar trend and values were in the order of HCT>HC>Hay while values for HT treatment was similar with HC and HCT treatments.

In the current study, sheep fed grass hay alone lost weight which could be due to low DM and CP intake in the control group, and the low CP content of the grass hay used as a basal diet in this study. This finding is in line with the idea of Van Soest (1994) who pointed out that whenever the CP content of forage is less than 8%, animal performance will be retarded. Similarly, the increased live weight gain and average daily gain in supplemented animals compared to the control group might be explained by the higher total DM and CP intake and better digestibility of the treatment diets. Bruk (2008) reported 24.5 g/day body weight loss in Adilo sheep fed grass hay alone and 13.2-36.1 g/d body weight gain in supplemented sheep where the supplement consisted of haricot bean screenings and sweet potato tubers. Working on Washera sheep fed hay supplement with different level of brewers’ dried grain, Mulu (2005) reported a feed conversion efficiency (-0.006-0.13) comparable to the present finding. In agreement with the present study, Sengsouly and Preston (2016) also reported positive influence of supplementation with rice distillers’ byproduct on live weight gain of cattle.

Carcass parameters

All the carcass parameters were highly affected by supplementation with non-supplemented sheep having lower value (Table 5). The significantly higher carcass traits in the supplemented sheep compared with the non-supplemented ones is consistent with greater body weight gain and feed conversion efficiency of animals in the supplemented treatments. In agreement with the present study, Mulugeta and Gebrehiwot (2013) reported an increase in empty body weight and hot carcass weight as a result of supplementation of sesame cake in the ration of sheep fed wheat bran and teff (Eragrostis teff) straw.

Mean values of dressing percentage calculated on empty body weight basis were higher than mean values of dressing percentage on slaughter weight basis. This is an indication of the effect of digesta (gut fill) on dressing percentages. Ingesta constitute a significant portion of the body weight even when the animals are fasted long hours (Gibb and Ivings 1993). This implies that prediction of carcass weight on empty weight basis seems to be appropriate as the influence of digesta would be removed.

All the supplemented sheep had a higher rib eye muscle area than non-supplemented one. The lower rib eye area scored by the control sheep in the present study compared to the supplemented ones indicate that sheep consuming different types of supplementary feeds were able to develop a better muscle than the animals fed hay only.

Edible offa

In the present study, supplementation did not affect the weight of kidney, kidney fat, intestines and omassum-abomassum (Table 6). All of the rest edible offal components showed significant improvement up on supplementation. Similar to the present study, Takele (2010) reported that the weight of carcass offal such as blood, heart, liver, tongue, reticulo-rumen and tail is significantly improved by supplementation in Horro lambs fed Vetch (Lathyrus sativus) haulm supplemented with wheat bran, Acacia albida leaf meal or their mixtures.

Non edible offal

The weight of non-edible carcass offals such as spleen and skin with feet were not affected by supplementation (Table 7). In the present study, supplementation significantly increased TNEO and among the supplemented treatments the value for HC treatment was lower than HT and HCT treatments. Previous studies noted increased TNEO (Abebe 2006; Girma 2010) associated with increment in body weight of the animals.

Conclusion

• Base on the above findings with 20.5% CP, the local brewery by-product (tata) can be considered as a medium protein feeds. As it is available in the locality of the farmers in the study area, the product can replace other commercial protein supplements which are too expensive and not affordable by low income farmers.
  
  
• The natural grass hay is a poor quality feed. This underlines the necessity of supplementary feeding for animals depending on such grasses as a sole roughage.
  
  
• Supplementation of tata and concentrate mix significantly improved DM/nutrient intake and digestion and growth performance of the experimental animals.
  
  
• Tata has a feeding potential similar to concentrate mix (CM) and can possibily replace CM as a supplement to sheep fed a basal diet of grass hay

Acknowledgments

The senior author is grateful to MOE for sponsoring the study. All the individuals who made contribution for successful completion of this study were also highly acknowledged.

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Received 9 December 2016; Accepted 22 February 2017; Published 1 April 2017

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