Olorunnisomo et al., 2006. Livest. Res. Rural Dev., 18 (1): 10
Inadequate supply of quality feeds is still a major problem in livestock production in the tropics, especially Nigeria. Use of agro-industrial by products such as maize offal (MO) and sorghum brewer's grain (SBG) in ruminant diets may provide a sustainable means of ameliorating this problem. In two trials, maize offal and sorghum brewer's grain or a mixture of both were fed in a supplementary diet to growing West African dwarf (WAD) sheep given a basal diet of guinea grass (Panicum maximum) hay. In Trial 1, the diets were offered without urea while in Trial 2 urea was added to make the diets isonitrogenous. Feed intake and growth rate of animals improved significantly (P<0.05) with increasing levels of SBG in the diets, however when the diets were isonitrogenous, feed intake, digestibility and growth of animals were not significantly different (P> 0.05). With equal levels of nitrogen in the diets, MO and SBG showed similar effects on performance of WAD sheep. Since sorghum brewer's grain is cheaper, it may be a better option than maize offal for inclusion in sheep diets.