Nutrient Intake and Digestibility in West African Dwarf (WAD) Sheep Fed Graded Levels of Pigeon Pea Seed Meal

Intake and digestibility of nutrients were determined in West African Dwarf (WAD) sheep fed on Pigeon pea (cajanus cajan) Seed Meal (PSM) based diet at 0 (A), 10 (B), 20 (C), and 30% (D) levels. Four WAD rams (15 and 17 months age, 16 and (DML) 19kg body weight) were used to in a 4 × 4 Latin square design to determine the dry matter intake, nutrient intake and digestibility. Simple linear regression and correlation were used to assess the degree of relationships between some of the digestion components. DMI did not vary among the treatment means. The nitrogen intake (g/d) was higher (P<0.05) in groups C and D than in control and B groups. Faecal nitrogen though higher in groups C and D, did not differ significantly (P>0.05) among groups. Urinary nitrogen was higher (P<0.05) in the group D than in the control, B and C groups. Apparent-nitrogen digestibility was also significantly (P<0.05) higher in the treatment groups fed PSM diets than in the control group. The metabolic faecal nitrogen (MFN) and the endogenous urinary nitrogen (EUN) increased with increasing levels of PSM. The biological value (BV) and digestible crude protein (DCP) also increased significantly (P<0.05) with increasing dietary levels of PSM. These results indicated that the inclusion of boiled pigeon pea seed meal at 30% level enhanced digestibility and nutrient utilization in West African Dwarf sheep.