Effect of Concentrate Supplementation on Performances of Ethiopian Lowland Afar and Blackhead Ogaden Lambs

The study was conducted to evaluate the effect of increased concentrate supplementation on nutrient intake, growth performance, carcass characteristics, duration of feeding and profitability of Ethiopian Afar and Blackhead Ogaden (BHO) lambs. Forty-eight lambs (24/breed) initially weighing 17.84±1.6 kg were randomly assigned to three dietary treatments (T) in Complete Randomized Design. Each lamb was fed on tef straw ad libtium and supplemented with 150, 300, 450 g d-1 of concentrate (containing 19.4% crude protein (CP) and 11.28 MJ ME kg-1DM) in T1, T2 and T3, respectively. Intake and growth trial lasted for 126 days, followed by digestibility trial of 7 days. Dry matter (DM) intake increased (p