Nutrient digestibility and nitrogen balance by Yankasa rams fed treated sugarcane bagasse supplemented with varying levels of yeast

A study was conducted to evaluate nutrient digestibility and nitrogen balance of Yankasa rams fed varying inclusion levels of yeast in bagasse based diet. Twenty (20) growing Yankasa rams were used for the study; the rams were allotted to four (4) dietary treatments in a completely randomised design. The metabolism trial lasted 21 days. The yeast was included at the rate of 0, 5, 6 and 7 g/kg respectively and the diets were offered at 3 % body weight. Data generated were analysed using general linear model procedure and significant differences were compared using Tukey test and contrast analysis. The crude protein (CP) content of experimental diet varied between 13.0 and 13.75 % while neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent fibre (ADF) and acid detergent lignin (ADL) ranged from 68.30 to 69.04 %, 32.60 to 33.53 % and 11.28 to 33.52 % respectively. The results of apparent nutrient digestibility showed that rams fed diet with 7 g/kg inclusion level had significantly higher (p<0.05) dry matter digestibility (DMD), crude protein (CPD), acid detergent fibre (ADFD), neutral detergent fibre (NDFD) and acid detergent lignin (ADLD) which were at par with rams fed diet with 0 g/kg inclusion level. Moreover, rams fed 6 g/kg inclusion of yeast had significantly higher (p<0.05) nitrogen retention and nitrogen retention as percentage intake which were at par with rams fed 0 and 5 g/kg inclusion of yeast. Conclusively, the study showed that increasing the inclusion of yeast increased the nutrient digestibility and nitrogen retention of Yankasa rams