Green Global
Foundation   Journal
...an emerging window for scientific research and publication across the globe

PERFORMANCE OF GRASSCUTTTER (Thryonomy swinderianus) FED VARYING LEVEL OF DIETARY PROTEIN (Pages : 1 - 4)

A farm study was conducted at the grasscutter unit of the Forestry research institute of Nigeria during June to August, 2007 to determine the effect of feeding varying levels of dietary protein on growth performance and cost of feeding growing grasscutter. Thirty-two grower grasscutters between the ages of 5-6 months were equalized by weight and used in a completely randomized design of four treatments with each treatment having four replicates of two animals. The results showed that elephant grass (Pennisetum puperium) is low in protein therefore necessitating the use of formulated concentrate. The final live weight, total weight gain and daily weight gain were significantly influenced by the dietary treatment (P<0.05). The final live weight and total weight gain significantly increased (P<0.05) with increasing levels of protein in the diet. The average concentrate intake increased from 178.02g in diet 1 to 262.05g in diet 4 (P<0.05). The findings also showed that the cost of feed was higher for diet 4 (N34.48/kg) and decreased with decreasing level of protein in the diet (diet 1=N23.00/kg).Download