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This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of browse tree leaves meals on growth performance and parasite load of naturally parasitized yearling goats. Thirty-six Arsi-Bale yearling bucks which were naturally parasitized with helminths were randomly allocated to one of the following feeding treatments; T1 = Chloris gayana grass hay ad lib + 100g concentrate, T2 = T1 + dried 100g of Acacia tortilis leaves, T3 = T1 + dried 100g of Acacia seyal leaves, T4 = T1 + dried 100g of Acacia senegal leaves, T5 = T1 + dried 100g of Millettia ferruginea leaves and T6 = T1 + dried 100g of Vernonia amygadalina leaves. Goats were fed on corresponding diets for 70 days. Fecal egg count and body weight changes were recorded every 14 days. Higher feed conversion efficiency was observed in goats supplemented with dried browse tree leaves of Acacia seyal (T3), Millettia ferruginea (T5), and Vernonia amygadalina (T6). All supplemented goats had significantly (p

Most of the protein source feedstuffs for poultry like soybean and soybean meal are expensive. Thus alternative and cheaper non-conventional feedstuffs should be assessed in order to broaden sources of ingredients. Jatropha curcas seed meal is one of the non-conventional feed ingredients that can be used for poultry feed. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to investigate the effect of dietary inclusion of treated and untreated Jatropha seed meal on feed intake, feed conversion ratio, egg production and egg quality traits. A feeding trial was carried out for eight weeks at Hawassa University, with 250 Lohmann Brown commercial layers (42 weeks old). Chicken were allotted to five treatment diets replicated five times with 10 hens per replication in a completely randomized design. The control treatment (T1) represents the standard poultry feed that contained 42% white maize, 15% wheat bran, 7% noug cake, 25% soybean, 4% bone and meat meal, 4% limestone, 2.5% Premix and 0.5% salt. In the treatments T2 to T5, 5% of soybean seed in T1 was replaced by 1.25% untreated and treated Jatropha seed meal where T2, T3, T4 and T5 contained untreated, heat-treated, NaOH-treated and T5 yeast treated Jatropha seed meal, respectively. There were significant variations in daily feed intake, food conversion rate, hen-day egg production, hen-housed egg production and mortality among treatment groups. Chicken receiving T2 had reduced daily feed intake compared to hens that were fed on all other diets (p, Journal of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Vol 7 No 2 (2022)

Seed meal of Jatropha that is obtained after extracting the oil has high nutritive value in terms of crude protein that can be used as animal feed. However, Jatropha seed meal contains several anti-nutritive compounds that can be probably toxic to animals. The aim of the present study was therefore to evaluate the effects of different treatment methods on the composition of nutrients, anti-nutritional factors and metabolizable energy content of Jatropha seed meal. The seed meal was collected from a biodiesel industry at Bati, Oromia Zone of Amhara Region, Ethiopia and treated using sodium hydroxide, backing yeast and heat and compared with the control (untreated) jatropha seed meal. The nutrient composition (Ash, Crude Protein, Ether Extract, Crude Fiber, Neutral Detergent Fiber, Acid Detergent Fiber and Acid Detergent Lignin), Phorbol ester, metabolizable energy and non-fiber carbohydrate contents were estimated using the standard formula. The result indicates that crude protein content varied from 26.97% in sodium hydroxide to 38.83% in the control treatments on a dry matter basis. The ash content of sodium hydroxide treated and the control were significantly higher (p, Journal of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Vol 5 No 2 (2020)

The biomass production and nutritive value of the natural pasture of Umbulo Wacho watershed in Southern Ethiopia were studied. The upper and medium altitudinal zones had an open area and areas closed for 2, 3 and 4 years and the lower altitude had an open area and an area closed for 2 years. In each of the open and closed areas, three sites were selected (9 in open, 21 in closed) at each of which exclusion cages (30) were fixed. The re-growths of forage samples were cut at 30 days interval from May up to November from the exclusion cages. The overall dry matter (DM, %), organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), acid detergent lignin (ADL), ash, calcium (Ca) and phosphorus (P) contents of the forages were 30.8, 83.9, 12.7, 66.7, 32.6, 4.5, 16.2, 0.6 and 0.3%, of the DM, respectively; in vitro DM digestibility (IVDMD) was 72.1% and DM yield (DMY) was 71.34 g/1.21 m/30 d (0.59 tones/ha/30 d). The natural pasture (117.1 ha) produced 829.07 tones of DM/year (0.59 * 117.1*12) which can only meet 8.20% of the total DM requirement (10,107.11 tones/year) of the tropical livestock unit (4431) found in the watershed. Closing an area for long duration decreased (P < 0.01) CP, P, DMY and IVDMD, but increased ADF and ash. Advance from the rainy season towards the dry period reduced (P < 0.01) DM, DMY, CP, ADF, ash and P. With increasing altitude, DM increased (P < 0.01) but DMY, NDF and P decreased. The IVDMD was positively correlated with DMY and negatively correlated with NDF and ash (P < 0.05). The interactions among closed or open areas, sampling time and altitude were significant (P < 0.05) for most of the nutrient content and yield parameters. The forages could be cut twice (middle and end of the rainy season) when the nutrient contents are optimal. For integrated and sustainable use of forages in the watershed, further study in improvement of quality and utilization is suggested., East African Journal of Sciences, Vol. 4 No. 1 (2010): East African Journal of Sciences