* Corresponding author. SUMMARY

To evaluate the effect of increasing dietary level of Vicia villosa Roth on intake, digestibility and N balance of Sorghum almum based diets twelve wethers (6 months; 18.6 ± 1.8 kg LW) fitted with rumen canula were housed in metabolic crates and allotted to 4 treatment diets (V0, V10, V20, V30) in a randomized complete block design. The diets were constituted from fresh S. almum (61.1 g CP kg-1 DM and 178.5 g DM) and V. villosa (211.9 g CP kg-1 DM and 153.2 g DM). Control diet (V0) comprised of 3 kg fresh S. almum ( ≈ 535.5 g DM head-1 d-1 c. 3 % LW), whereas V10, V20 and V30 were V0 + 300, 600 or 900 g of fresh V. villosa (( ≈ 45.96, 91.92 or 137.88 g DM head-1 d-1), respectively. Wethers on V10, V20 and V30 recorded 31.0, 23.28 and 19.9 % higher fresh matter intake than V0 respectively. Mean DMI and OMI for the 4 treatments were 306.2, 391.9, 364.6, 356.3 and 257.9, 327.9, 304.1 297.6 g d-1, respectively. Dry matter digestibility, N intake and VFA increased with level of V. villosa in the diet up to V20, then declined. NH3-N however increased steadily with level of V. villosa in the diet. It is concluded that, though V. villosa has a potential for used as a protein supplement for ruminants on low quality feeds, its proportion in the diet should not exceed 25%