Response of sheep fed urea-treated corncob and supplemented with cassava leaf meal

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of feeding untreated or urea-treated ground corncob and supplementing with cassava leaf meal (CLM) in a total mixed ration on growth, feed intake, nutrient digestibility, nitrogen (N) utilization and rumen fermentation of sheep. Five diet treatments with five replications consisted of untreated corncob + concentrate (CC); urea-treated corncob + concentrate (UCC); and CC and UCC supplemented with CLM and designated as CC+CLM and UCC+CLM, respectively. A diet formulated with a mixture of elephant grass and concentrate was used as control (EG). There were no significant differences in dry matter intake (DMI) between treatments. The average DMI was 4.17% bodyweight. Average daily gain (ADG) of sheep fed the treatment diets was between 146.3 and 176.2 g/h/day, and was higher than EG (89.1 g/head/day). Thus, the treatments improved feed conversion ratio (FCR). Nitrogen retention was lowest for EG and highest for UCC and UCC+CLM. The addition of CLM had no effect on growth, feed intake, nutrient digestibility, nitrogen utilization and rumen fermentation characteristics. It was concluded that corncob could be used as a replacement for elephant grass in postweaning diets for sheep.