DefinePK

Abstract

ABSTRACT A study was carried out to investigate the feeding behavior and performance of sheep and goat. The animals were fed on Maize, Sorghum, and Millet. For this purpose, a total of 90 animals (n=45 sheep) and (n=45 goats) were randomly assigned into six groups (n=15) each under 2x3 factorial arrangement. All groups of both species were fed maize, millet and sorghum randomly. Results indicated that goat spent more time to eat than sheep while sheep rumination time were noted significantly (P<0.05) higher in sheep compare to the goat. Meanwhile, drinking time was noted higher in sheep than goat. Moreover, goat exhibited higher resting, playing and other activities compared to sheep. Findings of dry matter intake (DMI), crude protein (CP) natural detergent fiber (NDF) and nutrient detergent fiber (NDF) were recorded significantly similar (P<0.05) in both species. Furthermore, digestibility of DM was observed similarly among two species while, digestibility of CP was recorded higher on millet fodder compare to other fodders. The digestibility of various nutrients such as CP, NDF and ADF were significantly higher (P<0.05) in sheep compared to goat. Daily weight gain, feed efficiency and cost of production were recorded similar in both species. Conclusively, both species of small ruminants showed significant weight gain and different feeding behavior of the consumption of various summer fodders.