Carcass Characteristics of Wad Rams Fed Ensiled Maize Forage and Mucuna Pruriens Foliage

Alabi, B. O.^1*, Ososanya, T. O.² & Akinduro, V. O.¹

¹Department of Animal Science, Osun State University, Osogbo, Nigeria
²Department of Animal Science, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria

Dr. Alabi, B. O., Department of Animal Science, Osun State University, Osogbo, Nigeria.

Keywords: Mucuna Pruriens Foliage; Maize-Mucuna Silage; WAD Rams; Meat Production

Abstract

The primary purpose of raising ruminants is for meat production. However, meat production from the West African dwarf rams is far from optimal. Therefore, the present study focused on the carcass characteristics of West African dwarf (WAD) rams fed ensiled Maize Forage (MF) and Mucuna pruriens foliage (MPF) was assessed. Downy mildew and streak resistant (DMR-SR) yellow variety maize was planted and harvested as MF at six weeks of growth and ensiled with MPF at four different levels to form the four silages: 100% MF (T1), 75% MF+25% MPF (T2), 50% MF+50% MPF (T3) and 25% MF+75% MPF (T4). The silage treatments were fed to 20 WAD rams (12.00±0.25Kg) in a completely randomized design for 105 days. At the end of 105 days growth study, 3 rams were selected per treatment and were slaughtered for carcass analysis. Hot carcass weight (HCW, Kg) Dressing Percentage (DP, %), Rib Eye Area (REA, cm³), Percentage meat (%), Percentage bone (%), Meat-Bone ratio were assessed using standard procedures.

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. (CC BY 4.0).