PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS AND RUMEN MICROBIAL POPULATION OF WEST AFRICAN DWARF SHEEP FED ENZYME SUPPLEMENTED DIETS

A 56-day trial was conducted to determine the effect of exogenous fibrolytic enzyme on growth per-formance and rumen microbial population of West African dwarf sheep. Sixteen growing ewe were randomly subjected to four dietary treatments with four animals per treatment in a completely random-ized design. A total mixed ration was formulated with enzyme included at four levels: 0, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6 g/kg feed. Performance characteristics and rumen microbial population of the animals were deter-mined. Enzyme additive significantly influenced (P<0.05) weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio. The highest values for total weight gain, and total feed intake were obtained at 0.6g/kg enzyme inclusion level. The feed conversion ratio (12.63) was however lowest (P<0.05) at 0.4g/kg enzyme inclusion. The total bacteria and total fungi counts were also significantly (P<0.05) affected by the dietary treatments. The highest bacteria (4.73×106 cfu/ml) and fungi counts (3.27×106 cfu/ml) were obtained at 0.6g/kg enzyme inclusion level but these values were not significantly different from what was obtained at that of 0.4g/kg enzyme inclusion. Protozoa count was not significantly (P>0.05) af-fected by the dietary treatments. A total of eight bacteria were isolated in the rumen of the animals. It is therefore concluded that the enzyme additive improved the performance and microbial count of sheep when added at 0.4g/kg feed