Evaluation of moringa (Moringa oleifera) forage meal in feeding of adult sheep

Punitha, G., Prabhu, T.M., Gowda, N.K.S., Pal, D.T., Giridhar, K., Girish, C.H., Dey, D.K., Bharathi, K., Nagaraj, K., Chethan, K.P. and Bhatta, R. 2023. Evaluation of moringa (Moringa oleifera) forage meal in feeding of adult sheep. Animal Nutrition and Feed Technology, 23: 25–38.

Experiment was conducted to study the nutrient utilization in rams fed diet incorporated with Moringa (Moringa oleifera) forage meal (MFM). In a completely randomized design experiment, eighteen healthy rams of comparable age (18–20 months) and body weight (23–26 kg) were selected and divided into 3 groups of six each. Group 1 (CON)-received control diet comprising finger millet straw, hybrid napier green fodder and compounded feed mixture (CFM) at 20, 50 and 30 per cent, respectively (DM basis). Groups 2 and 3 received the same diet except that the CFM replaced with MFM at 15 and 30 per cent (w/w), respectively. Ten weeks feeding trial and five days metabolism trial at 6^th week of experiment was carried out using all the animals. The chemical analysis (DM basis) of MFM showed that it contained 88.1% OM, 27.6% CP, 5.69% EE, 11.9% total ash, 29.3% NDF and 14.2% ADF. The metabolizable energy (ME) content and gas production were 9.24 MJ/kg DM and 35.1ml/200mg DM/24h, respectively. There was no significant difference in the intake of nutrients among the treatment groups except DM and OM which showed significantly (P=0.04) lower intake in MFM (at 30%) fed sheep. The apparent digestibility (%) for all nutrients was comparable except NDF (57–59%) and ADF (56.4–57.7%), which were significantly (P=0.01) higher in MFM fed groups (2 & 3). The nitrogen retained per unit of nitrogen intake as well as per unit of nitrogen absorbed were increased with increase in inclusion level of MFM. There was no significant change in body weight of rams in all the groups. On perusal of overall findings of this study, it is concluded that the MFM could be included in the diet of rams replacing 15 per cent of the CFM on weight basis.