A. E. EL TAYEB and SANIYA S. GABER
Institute of Animal Production, University of Khartoum, P. 0. Box 32,
Khartoum North, Sudan.
SUMMARY
Eighteen dairy heifers (mean body weight = 86.8 kg) were assigned to three treatments for a 60 day study to determine the effects of feeding a supplemental concentrate mixture (sorghum grains 20%, wheat bran 20%, cottonseed cake 59% and sodium chloride 1%) and the frequency of its feeding on performance and utilization of nutrients. Treatments were forage only and forage plus 1.50 kg concentrate mixture/ head/ day fed to heifers individually once aday at 07.30 hr, or divided into two equal portions and fed twice , a -day at 07.30 and 16.30 hr. The forage which was available as one part alfalfa and two parts Sorghum vulgare “abu 70” was fed ad. libitum. Average daily gain, dry matter intake and feed conversion ratio were significantly lower (p < 0.05) for forage fed heifers than for supplemented ones. These parameters appeared to be consistently better for heifers supplemented once aday than for those supplemented twice aday. Digestibilities of organic matter, crude protein, crude fibre and ether extract were significantly higher (p < 0.05) for heifers fed forage plus supplement once aday than for those fed forage only or forage plus supplement twice aday.
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