Replacement value of white mulberry forage for elephant grass on nutrients digestibility, weight gain and blood profile of sheep

A 63-day study that involved 20 growing West African Dwarf sheep with average live bodyweight of 7.44 ± 0.18 kgW was carried out to evaluate nutrients intake, nitrogen metabolism, weight gain and blood profile of sheep fed (PP) substituted with white leaves (ML). The sheep were allotted to 5 treatments of 4 sheep per replicate in a Completely Randomized Design experiment. Five diets fed to the sheep were formulated designated as T1 (100 % PP), T2 (75 % PP: 25 % ML), T3 (50 % PP: 50 % ML), T4 (25 % PP: 75 % ML) and T5 (100 % ML). DM ranged 89.03 - 90.16 % and highest (21.05 %CP) was obtained in T5. Nutrients intake, DWG and FGR were significantly (p