UTTAR PRADESH JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY

This study evaluated sickle bush (Dichrostachys cinerea) pod meal supplementation of Rhodes grass (Chloris gayana) hay in growing Blackhead Persian sheep. Three male sheep with a mean initial body weight of 17.73 ± 0.09 kg (mean ± SD) received hay alone or hay supplemented with 200 or 300 g pod meal/day as fed in a 3 × 3 Latin square. Each period comprised 7 days of adaptation and 5 days of total collection of faeces and urine. Pod meal contained 186.5 g crude protein/kg dry matter (DM), compared with 35.0 g/kg DM in hay. Total DM intake was 296.2, 460.5 and 625.5 g/day in the control, 200 and 300 g/day treatments, respectively (P = 0.0059), with all three means differing in the pairwise comparisons. Organic matter and fibre intakes also differed among all treatments, whereas crude protein intake was greater in both supplemented treatments than in the control but did not differ between supplementation levels. Apparent DM, organic matter and neutral detergent fibre digestibility showed exploratory tendencies toward treatment differences (P = 0.059, 0.057 and 0.069), whereas crude protein digestibility did not differ significantly. The overall treatment effect on acid detergent fibre digestibility was significant (P = 0.048), although no Tukey-adjusted pairwise difference was detected. Nitrogen retention was 0.5, 3.6 and 4.3 g/day, respectively (P = 0.022); both supplemented treatments exceeded the control but did not differ from each other. Nitrogen retention as a percentage of intake showed an exploratory tendency toward treatment differences (P = 0.065), while retention as a percentage of digested nitrogen and body-weight change did not differ significantly. Supplementation increased total nutrient intake and absolute nitrogen retention, without establishing improved nitrogen-use efficiency, a general digestibility benefit or a growth response.