Published in Scientific Papers. Series D. Animal Science, Vol. LVIII
Written by M. M. Das, V. K. Yadav, Archana Singh, P. Sharma, P. K. Ghosh
Grass pea is a very popular crop in many Asian and African countries where it is grown either for livestock feed or human consumption. The most important trait of grass pea consists of its drought tolerance and adaptability to diverse climatic conditions. In spite of the importance of grass pea for human and livestock, the crop has limited uses due to the presence of neurotoxic compound β-ODAP in seeds and plant parts, which causes Lathyrism in human beings and animals. The purpose of this study was to determine the nutrient utilization and growth performance of sheep fed grass pea hay based diet and to compare its feeding value to Berseem hay (Trifolium alexandrinum), a conventional legume fed to livestock in India. Eighteen growing Jalauni lambs of live weight (15.46 ±0.57 kg) were divided in to three groups of six animals in each. Animals of G1 (control) was fed berseem hay ad libitum as basal roughage whereas in the diet of G2 and G3, berseem hay was replaced with grass pea hay 50% and 100%, respectively. All the groups received 200 g crushed maize grain daily for 90 days. At the middle of the experimental feeding, a digestion cum metabolism trial was conducted for 7 days. DM intake (kg per 100 kg live weight and g per kg W0.75) was comparable among the groups. Digestibility of nutrients viz., DM, OM, CP, NDF, ADF were none significantly different among the groups. Digestible crude protein (DCP) intake (g/d) ranged from 64.68±4.22 in G2 to 68.00±3.01 in G3. Total digestible nutrients (TDN) intake (g/d) was also comparable among the groups. Nutrient content (%) in terms of DCP and TDN were (8.64±0.56 and 62.89±1.73), (8.42±0.73 and 62.89±0.64), (9.03±0.24 and 64.63±0.63), respectively in different diets. Daily live weight gain (g/d) was (84.10±3.59) in G1, (83.53±4.30) in G2 and (86.05±3.77) in G3, respectively. No adverse effect on feeding grass pea hay on body condition was observed in experimental lambs. It was concluded that nutrient intake and utilization and growth performance were comparable in Jalauni lambs fed either berseem hay or grass pea hay based diet and grass pea hay could safely be incorporated to ruminant’s diet without any adverse affection body condition.
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Berseem hay
