Livestock has great importance in economy of our country, livestock contribute 55.1% share in our agriculture GDP and about 12% of total GDP of Pakistan. Livestock includes all that animals which are reared at domestic level and produce beneficial products for human beings. As large ruminants has great role in milk production and a large population present in our country .Mean while small ruminants has also an important role in livestock sector. Deficiency of sufficient feed throughout the year is a common issue in Pakistan both for large and small ruminants. Poor quality and shortage of feedstuffs, as well as underfeeding are considered to be the major problems for the efficiency of animals. Tropical grasses have generally a lesser amount of crude protein contents. Therefore, maximum levels of production could not be achieved only from such feedstuffs that barely meet even the maintenance requirement of farm animals. Adding concentrates to poor-quality tropical hay is useful to improve intake and digestibility of grasses. The trial was conducted including, different levels of Rhodes grass hay supplementation, in TMR form. There were 3 treatments (Ctrl, Rh15 and Rh30), in a Complete Randomized Design (CRD). First group was offered Rhodes grass hay and concentrate separately. Whereas Rh15 and Rh30 group was fed Rhodes grass hay in TMR form. Feed offered and refusal recorded at daily basis.
Supplementation of different levels of Rhodes grass hay did not affect the DMI in all the treatments. Body weight gain increased significantly in Rh15 group as compared to others. Body condition score and body measurements increased in Rh15 diet when compared to others. Blood urea nitrogen increased in the ctrl group than Rh15 and Rh30 group. Blood glucose level was not changed in all the treatments. Protein digestibility was improved in Rh15 group as compared to Ctrl and Rh30. The data thus collected was be analyzed through one way ANOVA procedure of SAS using Fisher’s LSD test.
The experiment helped us to determine the inclusion level of Rhodes grass hay in our local animals. As Rhodes grass is a perennial grass so its efficiency helped us during the period of shortage.
Conclusion:
Results in the present study showed that animals performed better on TMR feeding than conventional feeding. Body condition score, Body measurements and body weight gain was improved in Rh15 group as compared to Ctrl and Rh30 groups.
Suggestions and recommendations:
In future chemical treatments of Rhodes grass hay may improve nutritive value of Rhodes grass hay. Further research required to evaluate the fiber digestibility of Rhodes grass hay in small ruminants.