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Feed intake and apparent nutrient digestibility of non-lactating Dorper sheep fed with total mixed ration based on local feedstuffs

Nurulhuda Md Ozman^1*, Wan Zahari Mohamed², Shanmugavelu Sithambaram³

¹Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah
²Formerly Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute, Serdang, Selangor
³Formerly Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, City Campus, 16100 Pengkalan Chepa, Kota Bharu, Kelantan

Malaysian J. Anim. Sci. 2021 24(1): 1-10

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The deficiencies and imbalance of nutrients are aggravated furthermore by the fact that most of 
the high-quality feedstuffs are imported products, mainly corn and soya bean meal (SBM). 
Practical and cost-effective feeds must therefore be identified by using locally available feed 
resources, mainly from agro-industrial by-products. Some of the local feed resources that can 
replace imported raw materials, especially corn and SBM, are palm kernel cake (PKC), copra 
meal, rice bran and palm fatty acid distiller (PFAD). The purpose of this study was to evaluate 
the feed intake and apparent nutrient digestibility of Dorper ewes fed with TMR (Total mixed 
ration) based on local feed resources. Nine non-lactating Dorper ewes were randomly and equally 
allocated into three treatment groups: i) TMRA (purple guinea grass silage + concentrate based 
on local feedstuffs + 1% PFAD), ii) TMRB (purple guinea grass silage + concentrate based on 
local feedstuffs + 1.5% PFAD) and iii) TMRC (purple guinea grass silage + concentrate based on 
imported feedstuffs) in a 17-day feeding trial based on Complete Randomized Design. The 
respective groups were separately fed the three formulated TMR. All TMR were fed based on 
2.5% of the mean live weight of the animals. The intakes of CP, CF and EE were higher in TMRA 
compared to the other two treatments. Whereas, the apparent digestibility of CP and EE in TMRA 
were higher (P<0.05) compared to TMRB and TMRC. It is concluded that TMRA that contain 
PKC, rice bran, copra meal and PFAD has higher digestibility in CP and EE compare to TMRC 
(based on imported feedstuffs). Thus, the inclusion of local feed resources in animal feed can 
improve nutrient digestibility particularly CP and EE in the ruminant