Research Results - (PDF, 101 mb) - USAID

Summary
In Morocco cereal stubble represents the
main food available in the summer for sheep
raised under a mixed crop-livestock system.
Because sheep are a substantial source of cash
income to farmers, good growth and reproduction
are important considerations. Feed resources
may be a serious limiting factor and
locally available by-products such as carob meal
and citrus pulp may be useful to improve the
use of the straw and straw stubble.
Protein and energy supplementation of
ewes grazing wheat stubble proved advantageous.
Ewes on wheat stubble alone except for
mineral and vitamin supplement lost 6.2 kg
weight after 16 weeks. Added supplementation
with 200g of cotton seed meal per day between
week five and 16 resulted in a 3.8 kg weight
increase; when an additional 200g of barley per
day was added for the same period, weight gain
was 5.0 kg. These results suggest that protein
and energy supplementation of ewes after the
first month on stubble grazing is necessary and
may improve their fertility,
In 1990 an experiment with crossbred
ewes compared unsupplemented stubble feeding
with moderate supplementation (protein
and energy) after the eighth week of stubble
grazing. Determinations were made of ewe
ovulation rate, body weight changes, prolificacy,
lamb weight at birth, and lamb growth and ewe
performance until the third month after lambing.
Results are not yet available.
Carob pulp is an available bya-product
that is used for fattening lambs. Lamb feeding
trials evaluated urea and sunflower meal as
nitrogen sources in diets high in carob pulp.
Results showed that increasing the crude protein
from 12 to 16 percent did not necessarily
improve lamb performance unless urea was
included in the diet. It was economically and
nutritionally beneficial to use urea as part of the
supplementary nitrogen in diets containing
carob pulp for fattening lambs.
A study was conducted to evaluate
ammonification versus urea or natural protein
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as nitrogen supplements of citrus pulp for sheep
diets. Although results are not yet completely
summarized, it can be concluded that ammonification
of citrus pulp as a method of nitrogen
enrichment of this product may not have any
advantage over simple urea addition to the diet.
Use of non-protein nitrogen supplementation in
the form of urea was comparable to that obtained
from horse beans which are more expensive.
Supplementation of wheat straw diets
for pregnant ewes provided greater ewe weight
gains and straw intake with increasing protein
and energy levels. Lamb birth weight and
mortality were not affected by level of protein or
energy.
Estimates were obtained of the
bioavailability of calcium from some widely
used feeds in Morocco. Lambs were used in
feeding trials comparing a basal diet with diets
supplemented with calcium carbonate, alfalfa
hay, oat-vetch hay, or wheat straw. Lambs were
slaughtered and body parts were analyzed.
Calcium retention with the calcium carbonate
treatment was 48.1%; alfalfa hay, 29.9%; oatvetch
hay, 33.3%; and wheat straw, 25.6%.
Research Results
Objectives
1. To characterize the nutritional value of
locally available feedstuffs for small ruminants.
2. To develop guidelines for formulation of
nutritionally and economically optimum diets,
especially at critical stages of the production
ccls
3 To develop strategies for more efficient use of
the feed resources available within intensive
small farming systems.