Grass Cutters Experiment

A 60 day trial involving forty, 3-months old weaned grass cutters of mixed breeds and sex with initial weight of between 830 and 850g was conducted to examine the effect of feeding different levels of wild sunflower leaf meal on the performance and blood profile of weaner grass cutter. The grass cutters were randomly assigned into five treatment diets in a Completely Randomized Design [CRD] and each group was further sub-divided into three replicates containing three grass cutters each. The grass cutters were fed with formulated growers diet supplemented with Sunflower meal at levels of 0%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% representing treatments 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 respectively. Feed intake, final weight gain were the performance criteria measured while

The grass cutters were housed in a concrete cell measuring 200×80×40cm (length × breath height) which was disinfected one month before the arrival of the animals. The floor of the cell was made of solid concrete, temperature within the cells were within the range of 27-30℃ during the period of experiment. On introduction of the grass cutter the anti stress (strexia) was added into the drinking water. Feed intake and weights were recorded daily and weekly respectively throughout the experiment, which lasted for 60 days.

Preparation of experimental diets

Wild sunflower leaf meal was prepared by air drying wild sunflower strands harvested when the first inflorescence had opened in 50-80% of the plants; it is later spread on a concrete floor to air dry. The dried leaves from the strands are removed and grinded with a hammer mill and stored in a container. The processed Wild sunflower meal was later subjected to proximate analysis as expressed in Table 1.

The test ingredient (WSFLM) was mixed with other ingredients to form five (5) experimental diets at levels of 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20%. The proximate composition is presented in Table