Effect of feeding some West African browse foliages on growth and carcass composition in sheep

The effect of feeding foliage from Afzelia africana , Pterocarpus erinaceus or Khaya senegalensis on growth performance was evaluated using 32 West African Djallonké rams of about 8 months of age and with a mean initial body weight (BW) of 16.1 kg. The animals were randomly assigned to four groups of 8 animals and the experiment lasted for 13 weeks. All the animals received the same amount of hay from Andropogon gayanus and maize bran (200 g/day each) and dried foliage ad libitum . The control group was fed cottonseed cake in restricted amounts. The animals were able to consume higher amounts of A. africana than of P. erinaceus and K. senegalensis. There was no significant difference in growth rate between sheep offered A. africana or P. erinaceus , 62.9 and 58.8 g/d, respectively, but sheep offered K. senegalensis had a lower average daily gain, 48 g/day (P