PERFORMANCE OF BLACK HEAD OGADEN SHEEP FED RHODES GRASS (Chloris gayana), ELEPHANT GRASS (Pennisetum purpureum), GUINEA GRASS (Panicum maximum) AND LOCAL GRASS (Cynodon dactylon) HAY BASAL

A study was conducted to determine the effect of feeding Rhodes grass (RG; Chloris gayana), elephant grass (EG; Pennisetum purpureum), guinea grass (GG; Panicum maximum) and bermuda grass (BG; Cynodon dactylon) supplemented with a similar amount of concentrate mixture (CM; wheat bran (WB) and noug seed cake (NSC) at 67:33 ratio) on performance and economy of fattening of Black Head Ogaden sheep. The study consists of a feeding and digestibility trials of 90 and 7 days long, respectively. Twenty four intact yearling Black Head Ogaden sheep with an initial body weight (BW) of 15.83 ±0.04 kg (mean ± SD) were used in a randomized complete block design based on their initial BW with four treatments and six replications. Treatments were the four grass species used as basal diets, i.e., RG (T1), EG (T2); GG (T3) and BG (T4). All animals received 300 g dry matter (DM) CM. Nutrient concentration of RG, EG, GG, BG, NSC and WB were 5.5, , 8.8, 7.6, 7.9, 24.3 and 14.0% crude protein (CP), and 83.3, 74.5, 75.4, 81.5, 39.0 and 45% neutral detergent fiber, respectively on DM basis. Intake of DM was 696, 700, 719 and 716 g/day (SEM = 0.004) for T1, T2, T3 and T4, respectively and was lowest for T1 and highest for T3. The CP intake was also lowest for T1 (89 g/day), and similar among the other 3 treatments (99-103 g/day). Digestibility of CP and organic matter were highest for T2, intermediate for T3 and T4 and lowest for T1. Average daily gain was in the order of T2 > T3 = T4 > T1 (27, 63, 50 and 45 g/day (SEM = 13.1) for T1, T2, T3 and T4, respectively); whereas hot carcass weight did not significantly differ among treatments (5.7, 6.4, 6.1 and 6.3 kg (SEM = 0.36) for T1, T2, T3 and T4, respectively). Total return, net income and marginal rate of return were all in the order of T2 > T4 > T3 > T1. Therefore, based on biological performance as well as economic return, sheep fed elephant grass perform better. However, variations in performance and economic return among the four grass species needs to be translated cautiously as part of the difference might have attributed to differences in the stage of maturity of the grasses up on harvest for feeding the lambs.