Forage Supplementation Feeding of Lactating Merino Ewes in Dry Season at the Foothills Agro-ecological Zone in Lesotho

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dc.contributor.authorRanchobe, M. L.en_US
dc.contributor.authorOluremi, O. I. A.en_US
dc.contributor.authorKuleile, N.en_US
dc.contributor.authorMahlehla, M.en_US
dc.contributor.authorMosebi, P.en_US
dc.contributor.authorMolapo, S.en_US
dc.contributor.authorMoea, L.en_US
dc.contributor.authorMochoa, L.en_US
dc.contributor.authorLefoka, M.en_US
dc.contributor.authorMantsoe, M.en_US
dc.date.accessioned2023-07-14T08:03:58Z
dc.date.available2023-07-14T08:03:58Z
dc.date.issued2023-02
dc.description.abstractA farmer-participatory research, which lasted for seven weeks, was carried out at Machache, in the Foothills Agro-Ecological Zone of Lesotho to examine the effect of forage based diets supplementary feeding on the performance response and milk quality of lactating ewes during dry lambing season. A total of 270 lactating merino ewes were randomly distributed among four dietary treatments: basal diet (T1) which was the range land pasture used as control, cereal forage based diet (T2), leguminous forage based diet (T3) and mixed forage based diet (T4). The feed value of the supplementary diets T2 (4.70% CP and 9.94MJ/kg ME), T3 (12.31% CP and 10.27 MJ/kg ME), T4 (11.90% CP and 10.47 MJ/kg ME)] was superior to that of the range land pasture T1 (2.80% CP and 8.61MJ/kg ME). Ewes on forage supplemented diets performed significantly (P<0.05) better than the control group in feed intake, live body weight and live weight change. The milk quality evaluation showed that solids-non-fat (SNF), protein and lactose were highly significant (P<0.05) for T3 and T4 than T1 and T2 which had high milk fat. The study revealed that diets T1 and T2 lacked the nutritional capacity to meet the nutrient requirements of lactating ewes as evidenced by slight body weight improvement. It is concluded that supplementary diets T3 (leguminous forage based diet) and T4 (mixed forage based diet) contained adequate nutrients that can meet the requirement of lactating ewes during dry lambing season. This was verified by high voluntary feed intake and good nutrients utilization as resulted by improving of body weight and high milk quality response of lactating ewes.en_US
dc.identifier.affiliationsDepartment of Animal Science, National University of Lesotho, P.O. 180, Roma Lesothoen_US
dc.identifier.affiliationsDepartment of Animal Science, Lesotho Agricultural College, Private Bag A4, Maseru 100, Lesothoen_US
dc.identifier.affiliationsDepartment of Agricultural Research, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, P. O. Box 829, Maseru 100, Lesothoen_US
dc.identifier.citationRanchobe M. L., Oluremi O. I. A., Kuleile N., Mahlehla M., Mosebi P., Molapo S., Moea L., Mochoa L., Lefoka M., Mantsoe M.. Forage Supplementation Feeding of Lactating Merino Ewes in Dry Season at the Foothills Agro-ecological Zone in Lesotho. Annual Research & Review in Biology. 2023 Feb; 38(2): 19-27en_US
dc.identifier.issn2347-565X
dc.identifier.placeIndiaen_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://imsear.searo.who.int/handle/123456789/219419
dc.languageenen_US
dc.publisherSciencedomain Internationalen_US
dc.relation.issuenumber2en_US
dc.relation.volume38en_US
dc.source.urihttps://doi.org/10.9734/arrb/2023/v38i230570en_US
dc.subjectDry seasonen_US
dc.subjectewesen_US
dc.subjectmerinoen_US
dc.subjectmilk qualityen_US
dc.subjectsupplementary foragesen_US
dc.titleForage Supplementation Feeding of Lactating Merino Ewes in Dry Season at the Foothills Agro-ecological Zone in Lesothoen_US
dc.typeJournal Articleen_US
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