Peformance of grazing or stall-fed lambs on supplementation with concentrate and roughage resources

In two separate growth (180d) trials, 30 each of grazing (experiment-1: semi-intensive system) or stall fed (experiment-2: intensive system) Nellore Brown lambs were supplemented with concentrates (maize and deoiled groundnut cake) alone (T-1), or along with groundnut haulms (T-2), dry leaf meal of Leucaena leucocephala (T-3), Sesbania grandiflora (T-4), Gliricidia maculata (T-5) or Ficus bangalensis (T-6) to study the effect of supplementation on digestibility of nutrients, growth performance and economics of feeding. The digestibility of nutrients in the diet was improved in lambs fed concentrate (T-1), Leucaena (T-3) or Sesbania (T-4) supplemented groups than in other treatments in experiment 1. The ADG (g), feed efficiency (P<0.01) and cost (Rs.) of feed/kg gain (P<0.05) were 59, 43, 44, 49, 41 and 40; 10.3, 13.8, 13.9, 11.9, 14.2 and 14.3 and 66.3, 74.5, 74.7, 64.1, 76.9 and 77.1 in lambs on treatments 1 to 6, respectively. In lambs stall-fed on fresh hybrid napier (NB-21) along with different supplements (experiment - 2), the digestibility of DM, CF, NDF, ADF, hemicellulose and cellulose was not significantly different among the treatments. The digestibility of CP in T-1 and T-4, EE in T-1 and T-5 was higher (P<0.01) than in other treatments while NFE and OM digestibility in T-1 was higher (P<0.01) than in T-6. The ADG (g) and feed efficiency were 43, 39, 46, 49,42 and 35 and 10.7, 11.8, 9.9, 9.5,10.6 and 11.9 in treatments 1 to 6, respectively. The cost of feed/kg gain (Rs.) was higher (P<0.01) in T-1 (68.5) than in T-3 (44.9) or T-4 (44.1) while in other treatments viz., T-2 (57.9), T-5 (49.5) and T-6 (59.7) it was comparable. The results suggested that economical and sustainable lamb production could be promoted by supplementation of Sesbania under semi-intensive system. Supplementation with Leucaena leucocephala, Sesbania or Gliricidia may be effective and economical under intensive system of rearing.