Effect of graded levels of Vernonia amygdalina on feed intake, growth performances, in vitro digestibility, and economic efficiency of Doyogena Sheep

The study was conducted to evaluate the effect of supplementation graded level of Vernonia Amygdalina on feed intake, growth performance, in vitro organic matter digestibility, and economic efficiency of Doyogena sheep fed grazing pasture 10 hours/day basal diet with a supplemented mixture of wheat bran (WB) with graded levels of Vernonia Amygdalina dried leaves (VADL). The design of study was Randomized Complete-Block Design used a Statistical Analysis System of variance (ANOVA). Thirty-two male yearlings Doyogena sheep with a mean initial live weight of 30.08±3.94kg were grouped into four blocks each of the eight animals was based on initial body weight and randomly assigned to one of the four treatments (pasture grazing 10 hours/day ad libitum supplemented with 180g WB only (T1); pasture grazing10 hours/day ad libitum supplemented with 180gWB and 100g VADL (T2), pasture grazing10 hours/day ad libitum supplemented with 180g WB and 200g VADL (T3), pasture grazing 10 hours/day ad libitum supplemented with 180g WB and 300g VADL (T4)). Water was available to the animals at all times. The experiment had 90 days of feeding the intake of supplemented DM was a significant difference (p<0.0001)165.24, 247.51, 345.67, and 438.51g/day for T1, T2, T3, and T4 respectively. Average daily weight gain was 85, 120, 158, and 170 g/day for T1, T2, T3, and T4, respectively, which was significantly higher (P<0.0001) for T3 and T4 compared to T1. The results in the present study showed that the crude protein contents of VADL and WB were 25.6% and 15.1%, respectively. Supplementation improved (p<0.0001) DM intake (DMI), IVOMD, and average daily gain in sheep fed poor basal diet. Sheep fed with a basal diet of pasture grazing10 hours/day supplemented with 300g of VADL and 180g of WB is economical to improve the growth performance of Doyogena sheep. The present study using Vernonia as supplemental feed generated a promising result, further research work is necessary on the distribution, population status, propagation methods, and proper utilization of Vernonia amygdalina.