Effect of dried and fermented food leftover on feed intake, growth performances and digestibility of sheep

The Leftover food as a source of animal feed offers a sustainable solution to minimize waste, conserve resources and provide nutritious feed for small ruminants. The experiment was conducted at Mekelle University’s Small Ruminant Research Farm to assess the impact of dried and fermented food leftover on the growth performance and digestibility of nutrients in sheep.

Twenty-one intact Highland lambs with an average weight of 15.17±1.79 kg were utilized in a randomized complete block design, with three treatments replicated seven times. The treatments included: Recommended concentrate mixture supplementation (T1), 71% replacement of the concentrate in T1 with dried food leftover (T2) and 71% replacement of the concentrate in T1 with fermented food leftover (T3). Food leftovers were collected and utilized in both dried and fermented forms. Additionally, adlibitum grass hay and water were provided throughout the trial period. Data analysis was conducted using ANOVA with the general linear model (GLM) procedures of SAS statistical software.

Results indicated that dried food leftover had a higher dry matter percentage when compared to the fermented counterpart, though they exhibited similar crude protein, energy and fiber contents. Dry matter intake, body weight gain and feed conversion efficiency were significantly higher (P<0.05) for T3 compared to T1 and T2. However, dry matter and nutrient digestibility were not significantly affected by the diets (P>0.05). The findings suggest that utilizing food leftover in fermented form could be more beneficial for feed utilization and animal productivity.