Effect of feeding sweet sorghum stover based complete ration on nutrient utilization in Nellore lambs

Aim: The present study was carried out to evaluate the nutrient digestibility of sweet sorghum stover, an unconventional roughage source in ram lambs in comparison to conventional sorghum and maize stovers. Materials and Methods: 18 Nellore ram lambs aged about 3 months (average body weight 15.65 [+ or -] 0.10 kg) were randomly allotted to three complete rations formulated with roughage to concentrate ratio of 60:40 using sorghum stover (D1), maize stover (D2) and sweet sorghum stover (D3) as roughage source for a period of 120 days. At the end of the growth trial, a metabolism trial was conducted to evaluate the nutrient utilization of the complete diets. Results: There was no significant difference in nutrient digestibility of dry matter, organic matter, crude protein (CP), crude fibre, ether extract and nitrogen free extract in ram lambs fed D1, D2 and D3 diets, respectively. The digestibilities of acid detergent fibre and neutral detergent fibre did not differ significantly among the ram lambs fed various experimental diets. All the lambs were on positive nitrogen balance. Nitrogen balance was comparable among the various groups. The digestible CP and total digestible nutrients, digestible energy and metabolisable energy content of D1, D2 and D3 diets did not show any significant difference. Conclusion: It can be concluded that, sweet sorghum stover can be incorporated in the complete diets of sheep at 60% level by replacing conventional roughages such as sorghum stover and maize stover, processed as mash form without affecting the voluntary intake and digestibility of nutrients. Keywords: complete ration, lambs, nutrient utilization, sweet sorghum stover.