RUMEN FLUID CHARACTERISTICS OF YANKASA RAMS AS INFLUENCED BY COWPEA HAY AND GROUNDNUT HAULMS SUPPLEMENTATION

This study was conducted to determine the effect of cowpea hay and groundnut haulms supplementation on rumen characteristics of Yankasa rams. The experiment involved Sixteen (16) growing Yankasa rams weighing 20.19 ± 2.2 kg randomly assigned to four treatment groups: Rice straw (I), groundnut haulms (II), cowpea hay (III) and combination of cowpea and groundnut haulms supplementations (IV). The experiment was laid in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with four (4) replications for a period of 84 days. The rumen liquor (15 ml) was drawn individually from the experimental animals. The rumen pH and microbial populations were determined using standard procedures. Data obtained were analyzed using Analysis of Variance with Duncan’s New Multiple Range Test used to separate significant means at 5% level. The results obtained revealed significant difference (P≤0.05) among the treatments in terms of pH and microbial counts. Treatment I had the least acidic value (6.29) at four hours after feeding. Treatment II had highest microbial counts (5.87 x106cfu/ml for bacteria and 4.26x105 cfu/ml for fungal counts) after 4 hours of feeding. The result inferred that supplementing basal rice straw with cowpea hay and groundnut haulms maintained the quality of rumen’s fluid pH of Yankasa rams. There was sufficient number of bacterial and fungal species in the rumen fluid for fibre degradation which aid digestibility and rumen fermentation. Thus, it is recommended that, cowpea hay and groundnut haulm be fed at 300g/day to growing Yankasa rams to enhance growth performance.