Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: An experiment was conducted to compare Horro and Washera sheep in terms of feed intake, digestibility, body weight gain and economic feasibility fed untreated wheat straw (UTWS) a basal diet and supplemented with an effective microorganism-treated wheat straw (EMTWS) and concentrate mixture (CM). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 10 from each sheep breeds and 2 supplement amounts of EMTWS, supplemented at 10% (A1) and 15% (A2) of the total dry matter intake (TDMI), were arranged in a 2 × 2 factorial treatment arrangement in a completely randomized block design. The sheep of each breed were blocked on the basis of their initial body weights into five blocks of four animals in a block (two animals from each sheep breed), and treatment feeds were randomly allocated within a block during the 100 experimental days. Daily feed intake and body weight at the 10-day interval were recorded, and data were analysed using general linear model procedures (PROC GLM) of SAS software program. RESULTS: The crude protein (CP) content of EMTWS showed only a 1% increment over UTWS, whereas its neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and acid detergent fibre (ADF) values showed a 10% reduction over UTWS. Washera sheep consumed 40 g more TDM over Horro sheep. Sheep fed the A2 supplement consumed 86 g more (p < 0.0001) TDM over A1-fed sheep. Consequently, Washera sheep and sheep fed-A2 gained 1 and 3 kg of additional body weight by growing 11 g/day and 33 g over Horro sheep and those sheep fed-A1, respectively. Sheep fed-A2 and Washera sheep gave better economic returns than A1-fed sheep and Horro sheep, respectively. CONCLUSION: Therefore, from the results of the study, it could be suggested that rearing Washera sheep by supplementing 15% EMTWS along with a CM can be recommended for smallholder farmers.