Nutrient intake, digestibility and growth performance of Washera lambs fed natural pasture hay supplemented with graded levels of Ficus thonningii ( Chibha ) leaves as replacement for concentrate mixture

Table 3 Feed intake of Washera lambs fed natural pasture hay supplemented with different levels of Ficus leaves and concentrate mixture

Parameters	Treatments					SEM	SL
Parameters	T1	T2	T3	T4	T5	SEM	SL
Basal DMI (g/d)	472.62^a	452.79^ab	445.93^ab	421.61^b	424.82^ab	11.073	***
Supplement DM intake (g/d)	195.7^e	248.0^d	300.3^c	352.7^b	405.0^a	0.000	***
Total DMI (g/d)	668.27^d	700.48 ^cd	746.78^bc	774.27^b	829.82^a	11.073	***
TDMI (%BW)	2.72^c	2.99^bc	3.27^b	3.44^ab	3.90^a	0.114	***
OMI (g/d)	570.90^d	589.68 ^cd	619.21^bc	634.25^ab	672.15^a	9.190	***
CPI (g/d)	55.59^a	54.99^a	54.82^a	54.23^a	54.09^a	0.357	ns
NDFI (g/d)	367.02^b	372.09^b	385.38^ab	387.56^a	407.30^a	7.063	***
ADFI (g/d)	222.56^d	233.72 ^cd	249.70^bc	259.18^b	278.89^a	4.123	***
ADLI (g/d)	77.918^d	80.81 ^cd	85.32^bc	87.650^ab	93.41^a	1.378	***
¹MEI (MJ/Kg DM)	7.12^a	7.16^a	7.29^a	7.31^a	7.48^a	0.174	ns

a, b, c, d, e = means within rows having different superscript are significantly different at *** = (p < 0.001); ADF acid detergent fiber, BW body weight, CM concentrate mixture, CP crude protein, DMI dry matter intake, NDF neutral detergent fiber, OM organic matter, SL significant level, NPH natural pasture hay, FTL Ficus thonningii leaves, CM concentrate mixture; T1 = NPH + 0 g FTL +215 g CM; T2 = NPH + 112.5 g FTL +161.25 g CM; T3 = NPH + 225 g FTL +107.5 g CM; T4 = NPH + 337.5 g FTL +53.75 g CM; T5 = NPH + 450 g FTL +0 g CM
¹Estimated Metabolizable Energy (ME) = 0.0157 × Digestible Organic Matter Intake (DOMI) [46]

ISSN: 2048-7010