Abstract:
Smallholder cattle farmers in Ethiopia face inadequate feed supply in terms of quality and
quantity as well as poor storage facilities. Dietary inclusion of the new potential feed resource
such as Sapium ellipticum (Jumping - Seed Tree) would be a reliable substitute either as a sole feed
or a multi-nutrient supplement in such fragile environments. The effects of supplementing
varying levels of S. elipticum leaves with concentrate mix (CM) on nutrient utilization, growth
performance and economic efficiency was studied in Bos indicus × Bos taurus bulls fed grass
based diet. Twelve bulls with average initial live body weight of 118.11± 0.84 kg and 16.5 ±
2.12 (Mean+SEM) months of age were selected for 84 days fattening and 10 days of digestion
trial. A randomized crossover design with 4 diets and 4 periods was used. The four dietary
treatments included were hay + 400 g DM CM (T1), hay + 200 g S. elipticum + 400 g DM CM
(T2), hay + 400g S. elipticum + 400 g DM CM (T3), and hay + 600g S. elipticum + 400 g DM
(T4). The concentrate mix was made up of DM 947g/kg CM, ASH 100g/kg DM, CP 186g/kg
DM, EE 50g/kg DM, NDF288g/kg DM ME17.11MJ/kg DM and ADF235g/kg DM. The smallest
nutrient intake was observed in bulls feed T1; however, the highest feed intake was recorded for
diet T4 (P<0.001). The difference between treatments and periods are highly significant
(P<0.001). Average daily gain was 123, 207,251 and 334 g/day, respectively for T1, T2, T3 and
T4 (P<0.001). Feed conversion efficiency ranged between 35 (T1) and 18 g ADG/g DM intake
(T4) (P<0.001). Further, T4 was found to be the most profitable diet compared to other dietary
treatments (P<0.001). A positive relationship observed between increasing graded levels of S.
ellipticum with improved animal performance could indicate the potentiality of the plant to
replace other protein and energy sources from concentrate mixes.
