College of Agriculture
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The College of Agriculture is committed to advancing agricultural education, research, and community service.
It serves as a center for knowledge creation and dissemination in crop science, animal production,
natural resource management, and sustainable agriculture.
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Item THE EFFECT OF PARTIAL SUBSTITUTION OF NOUG SEED CAKE WITH CASSAVA (Manihot escutulata C.) LEAF MEAL ON FEED INTAKE, GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND CARCASS TRAITS OF ROSS 308 BROILER CHICKENS(Hawassa University College of Agriculture, 2017) MENGISTU MASEBO LAMBEBOThe effect of dietary inclusion of cassava leaf meal (CLM) on feed intake, growth performance and carcass characteristics of growing Ross 308 chickens was investigated at the poultry farm of the School of Animal and Range Sciences, Hawassa University. The leaves were collected from Hawassa Research center and were sundried and ground to make leaf meal. Five treatment diets were formulated to contain 0% (Treatment 1, T1), 2% (Treatment 2, T2), 4% (Treatment 3, T3), 6% (Treatment 4, T4) and 8% (Treatment 5, T5) of CLM, which was incorporated in the diet as partial substitution of Noug seed cake. After two weeks of brooding, 240 unsexed broiler chicks were weighed and randomly allocated to the dietary treatments with four replicates of 12 chickens each totaling 48 chickens per treatment. The experiment lasted for 6 weeks, during which feed intake and body weight were assessed on daily and weekly basis, respectively. At the end of the experiment, two chickens (male and female) chick per replicate of each treatment whose body weight was nearly similar to those of average of treatment were randomly selected, fastened overnight, weighed and slaughtered for the determination of carcass parameters. The results indicated that the feed intake (g/chicken/day) was 80.9, 80.4, 80.9, 77.0 and 74.0 for chickens fed with T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5, respectively being significantly higher for those of T1, T2 and T3 than T4 and T5. The crude fiber intake was (p<0.05) higher for those chickens reared in T1 and T2 diets. Chickens reared in T1, T2 and T3 diets had significantly higher body weight and total weight gain values than those of T4 and T5. No significance difference was observed in body weight between chickens reared in T1, T2 and T3. The body weight and weight gain parameters were significantly higher for those chickens reared in T4 than those of T5. There was no significance difference in feed conversion ratio between treatment diets. Chickens reared in T1 had significantly higher (p< 0.0001) slaughter weight and dressed carcass than those of other treatments. The values for dressing percentage, and drumsticks were (p< 0.0001) higher in chickens reared in T1 and T2 diets than those fed of T4 and T5. Chickens fed on T1, T2 and T3 had significantly higher values for thigh and wing as compared with those reared in other treatments. The interaction effects of sex by treatment was significant for breast, drumstick, back, gizzard and skin while it was insignificant for other carcass components. Male chickens had significantly higher carcass component values than females. The results of the current study revealed that the inclusion of cassava leaf meal up to 4% in broiler diet could be an alternative feeding strategy by partially substituting Noug seed cakeItem PHENOTYPIC CHARACTERIZATION AND CARCASS EVALUATION OF INDIGENOUS SHEEP IN GEBIRESU ZONE, AFAR REGIONAL STATE, ETHIOPIA(Hawassa University College of Agriculture, 2020) TE’AME GEBREMEDHIN FITWIThe study was carried out in Gela’alo and Gewane districts of Afar region to phenotypically characterize indigenous sheep populations and evaluate the carcass components. To this effect, 180 households from six kebeles were selected randomly. Five hundred forty sheep of both sexes were sampled for phenotypic characterization study. Based on the morphometric measurements, structural indices were also calculated. Qualitative data were analyzed using SPSS while quantitative data using SAS version 9. The result showed that most of the household heads were male (76.6%) and pastoral system was the dominant production system. Among the livestock species, goats accounted for the largest proportion followed by sheep and the average goats and sheep flock size was 28.5 and 24.2, respectively. The primary purpose of keeping sheep was for milk consumption. The major feed resources for sheep during wet and dry seasons were communal natural pasture. Rivers and tape water were the main water sources for sheep in the study area. The households mainly practiced natural and uncontrolled mating systems. Selection was practiced both for male and female sheep. Appearance, color, age and sexual maturity were the most important traits in selecting breeding rams while milk yield, lambing interval, appearance and lamb growth were reported as traits given emphasis in choosing breeding ewes across the two studied districts. Feed shortages, recurrent drought, and disease were the major sheep production constraints in both districts. The most observed coat color pattern of sampled sheep populations were plain (50.7%) and patchy (49.3%) while the most observed coat color type was different color with white dominant (38.5%) followed by fawn (23.5%). All sampled sheep populations were characterized by short and coarse hair without a horn. Age, sex and districts had significant (P<0.05) effect on most of the quantitative variables. The average body weight (kg), body length, chest girth, height wither, rump height and tail length (cm) was 33.6, 57.4, 68.8, 62.1, 61.2 and 21.2, respectively. Positive and highly significant (P<0.01) correlations were observed between quantitative traits in both sexes except ear length. Heart girth and rump height were the best-fitted traits to predict body weight for ram and ewe, respectively. The structural indices indicated that the sampled sheep could be characterized as dairy type. The overall dressing percentage and carcass weight were 37.0% and 8.59 kg respectively. It is concluded that understanding the phenotypic characterization, husbandry practices and carcass characteristics of indigenous sheep can be used as base line data in designing a sustainable breeding program in the study area.