FEED-INTAKE, GROWTH-RATE AND DIGESTIBILITY COEFFICIENTS OF GROWING SHEEP FED HAY SUPPLEMENTED WITH CROTALARIA-OCHROLEUCA

A study was carried out to determine the chemical composition of Crotalaria ochroleuca ("marejea") at three stages of growth - pre-anthesis, anthesis and post-anthesis. A feeding trial was conducted to study the effect of "marejea" supplementation of low-quality Chloris gayana hay on the feed intake, growth rate and feed utilization of growing sheep. In the feeding trial, 12 young male sheep were randomly allocated to four treatments: hay only (T1), hay + 150 g "marejea" (T2), hay + 300 g "marejea" (T3) and hay + ad libitum "marejea" (T4). The crude protein (CP) content (30.5%) at pre-anthesis decreased with advancing plant growth. "Marejea" supplementation had a significant (P < 0.01) effect on total and daily gain. Total and daily weight gain increased with increasing level of "marejea" in the diet, but there were no significant differences (P > 0.01) among supplemented animals in treatments T3 and T4. Supplemented animals as a group had significantly (P < 0.01) higher daily gain than their unsupplemented counterparts. Supplementation increased dry matter digestibility of hay, but only significantly (P < 0.01) with treatment T4. CP digestibility in T4 was about three times that of the unsupplemented group (T1). The organic matter digestibility increased with supplementation, but was only significantly (P < 0.01) higher in treatment T4. © 1990.