Effects of traditional brewery dried residue and field pea hull mixtures supplementation on feed utilization and performance of Washera sheep fed natural pasture grass hay as basal diet

Abstract Background The major feedstuffs (natural pasture and crop residues) used for sheep in Ethiopia are fibrous and the crude protein (CP) content is less than 7% that is inadequate to meet the maintenance requirement of sheep. These poor quality feeds should be improved and can be improved through supplementation with nutritious feedstuff. Therefore, to overcome this challenge, there is a need to look for some alternatives but locally available and cheap sources of protein. In this regard, traditional brewery dried residue (TBDR) and field pea hull (FPH) could be an important sources of feed for ruminant livestock. Objectives This experiment was carried out to evaluate the effects of supplementing mixtures of TBDR and FPH on the feed intake, digestibility, live weight gain, and economic feasibility of the feeding treatments. Methods In a 3‐month experiment, 20 yearling intact male Washera sheep were blocked based on their initial BW of 22.1 ± 1.58 kg (mean ± standard error of mean), and treatment diets were randomly assigned within a block. Treatments comprised feeding natural pasture grass hay (NPGH) ad libitum + 50 g ground nut cake (GNC) (T1, control); T1 + supplemented with 25% TBDR:75% FPH (T2); T1 + 50% TBDR:50% FPH (T3) and T1 + 75% TBDR:25% FPH (T4). The supplement feed was offered twice a day at 08:00 and 16:00 while, common salt lick and water were available all time. Results NPGH, FPH, TBDR, and GNC in the current study contained 5.7%, 13.4%, 22.2%, and 45.4% CP and 62%, 61%, 34%, and 20% neutral detergent fibre, respectively. Sheep in supplemented treatments had higher (p < 0.05) apparent digestibility percentage of dry matter and nutrients than those in T1. Among the supplemented treatments, sheep fed T4 recorded 4.49 kg extra (p < 0.0001) body weight as compared to that fed T1 by growing at an average of 49.8 g/day and returned the highest net income (255.8 Ethiopian birr) Conclusion Thus, based on the highest body weight gain and net return, the combinations of 75% TBDR and 25% FPH (T4) appeared to be recommendable for poor farmers.