Citation of this paper

Effects of fresh cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica) replacement of native hay on feed and water intake, digestibility, body weight change and nitrogen balance of lambs

Niguse Gebru Weldemariam

Adigrat University department of Animal Production and Technology, P.O.B; 50, Adigrat, Ethiopia
niguseg41@gmail.com

Abstract

The experiment was conducted to evaluate levels of cactus on feed intake, water intake, digestibility, body weight change, nitrogen balance and blood parameter of lambs. Twenty yearling lambs having average initial body weight of 10.35 ± 1.14 kg were used for 90 day feeding and 7 days digestibility trial. The DM and water intake, digestibility, retention of nitrogen, the live weight gain and feed conversion efficiency and blood parameters were improved when fresh cactus level increased in the diets of lambs.

Key words: cactus, cladode and lambs

Introduction

Semiarid areas are characterized by rainfall irregularities, longer drought periods, (FAO, 2008). Therefore, production of animal feed is very limited. Then, the use of unusual feed resources that can adapt and efficient in the water usage could be the best alternative to animal feeds (Gusha et al 2015). Hence, cactus characteristics favor their adaptation to the environmental situation to such regions (Ben and Smith 2008). Cactus is low in neutral detergent fiber and high in water composition. Therefore, mixing of cactus with other fiber sources feeds could be best alternative to overcome the fiber limitation of cactus (Oliveira et al 2017). Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of levels of cactus on feed intake, water intake, digestibility, body weight change, nitrogen balance and blood parameter of lambs.

Materials and methods

Study area

The study was conducted in Adigrat town, Tigrai Regional State having 500mm annual average rain fall and 13.9^OC average temperature. The altitude of the area is 2800 meters above sea level.

Animals, experimental design and diet

Thirty yearling male lambs with 10.35 ± 1.14 kg body weight were used for the experiment. The sheep were held in quarantine for 21 days, dewormed and vaccinated for ovine pasteurellosis. Animals were arranged on the basis of their initial body weight into six blocks of five animals in a randomized design. Animals from each block were randomly allocated to the five treatment groups (Table 1). The diets were formulated using winfeed software and offered twice per day at 0800 and 1600 hours. Feed offered and corresponding refusals were recorded daily. At the end of the 90 days, daily refusal and offered samples were mixed for each animal and each feed, respectively and sub-sampled for further chemical analysis. The water supply given ad libitum and its intake was measured. The water evaporation rate was measured with other buckets positioned in the shed; the voluntary water intake was determined by the difference between the supply and the leftovers in the 24 h.

Table 1. Ingredients and chemical composition of the experimental diets
Ingredients	Levels of ingredient inclusion (g/kg)
Ingredients	0	150	300	450

Native hay	500	350	200	50
Cactus	0	150	300	450
Wheat bran	300	300	300	300
Noug seed cake	195	195	195	195
Mineral salt	5	5	5	5
Total	1000	1000	1000	1000
Chemical composition
DM (%)	90.5	85	78	71
Ash (% DM)	8.46	8.75	9.03	9.32
CP (% DM)	15.14	14.75	14.36	13.98
EE (% DM)	0.40	0.70	0.75	0.90
NDF (% DM)	54.57	47.97	41.37	34.77
ADF (% DM)	24.67	20.81	17.0	13.19
ADL (% DM)	5.05	4.46	3.87	3.28
ME (Mcal/kg DM)	2.65	2.45	2.24	2.16
ADF = acid detergent fiber; CP = crude protein; DM = dry matter; ME= Metabolizible energy; NDF = neutral detergent fiber

Feed intake, digestibility and body weight change

The daily feed offered and refusals were weighed and recorded and sub-samples taken for proximal analysis. Body weight of the animals was taken at the beginning of the feeding trial after and every 15 days. Feed conversion efficiency (FCE) was calculated as ADG/DM intake. At the end of the feeding trial, all the sheep were harnessed with bags to collect feces. After three days adjustment, feces were collected for seven consecutive days. Daily feed offered and refusal per sheep was recorded. The total fecal output was collected and sub-samples stored frozen at -20^oC and pooled over the collection period to be dried in an oven at 60⁰C for 72h.

Apparent digestibility was calculated as:

Nitrogen retention was calculated as the difference between total N intake and sum of fecal and urine nitrogen. The rates of nitrogen absorbed and retained were calculated by the following two formulae, respectively:

Chemical analysis

Samples of feed offered, refusals and feces were analyzed for DM, N and ash according to AOAC (1990). ADF, NDF and ADL were determined according to Van Soest et al (1991).

Statistical analysis

Data were analyzed using the general linear model procedure of SAS (2002) version 9.1. The model was: Y _ij = µ + T _i + B _j +e_ij. Where: Y _ij = response variable; µ = overall mean; T _i = treatment effect; B _j = block effect; eij = random error.

Results and discussion

Intake and digestibility of nutrients

Table 2. Nutrient intake and apparent digestibility of the diets
Intake (g/day)	Levels of inclusion of cactus (g/kg)				SEM	P-value
Intake (g/day)	C₀	C₁₅₀	C₃₀₀	C₄₅₀	SEM	P-value

Dry matter	836.64 ^a	910.01 ^a	852.85 ^a	703.85 ^b	3635.5	0.0005
Ash	70.78cb	79.63a	77.01ab	65.6c	28.795	0.0034
Crude protein	126.33^a ^b	134.68 ^a	122.47b	98.39c	77.286	<.0001
Ether extract	3.35 ^b	6.37 ^a	6.39 ^a	6.33 ^a	0.1990	<.0001
NDF	289.5 ^c	436.8 ^a	352.8 ^b	244.7 ^d	699.1	<.0001
ADF	206.7 ^a	189.3 ^b	144.9 ^c	92.8 ^d	132.9	<.0001
Water intake (g/day)
VWI	2451.4 ^a	1712.8 ^b	1184.4 ^c	933.0 ^d	9286.8	<.0001
From feed	9.29 ^d	160.5 ^c	240.5 ^b	287.2 ^a	234.8	<.0001
Total	2460.7 ^a	1873.4 ^b	1424.9 ^c	1220.2 ^d	9316.2	<.0001
VWI/DMI	2.90 ^a	1.90 ^b	1.40 ^c	1.30 ^c	0.028	<.0001
Digestibility
Dry matter	0.68 ^b	0.74 ^a	0.75 ^a	0.73 ^ab	0.002	0.047
Ash	0.671	0.695	0.696	0.662	0.009	0.916
Crude protein	0.486 ^b	0.702 ^a	0.745 ^a	0.740 ^a	0.002	<.0001
Ether extract	0.433 ^c	0.527 ^b	0.638 ^a	0.674 ^a	0.002	<.0001
NDF	0.476 ^b	0.691 ^a	0.697 ^a	0.718 ^a	0.004	<.0001
ADF	0.470 ^b	0.565 ^b	0.674 ^a	0.680 ^a	0.003	<.0001
^a,b,c = Means with different superscripts in the row are different at p<0.05; ADF = acid detergent fiber; DM = dry matter; NDF = neutral detergent fiber; SEM = standard error of mean

Most of the nutrient intake was decreased with the increased levels of cactus inclusion to the diets of the lambs (Table 2). This might be due to the high water content of the cactus cladode. Moreover, voluntary water intake (VWI) was linearly decreased as the cactus level increased. Similar to this, Tikabo et al (2006) was reported decreased DMI and voluntary water intake. Moreover, Costa et al (2012) was reported decreased VWI by increased levels of cactus in diets. The NDF digestibility was improved by the increased level of cactus in the diets. On contrary, Cavalcanti et al (2006) was reported decreased digestibility of NDF by replacing Tifton hay with cactus in lactating cow diets.

Animal performance

Table 3. Performance of lambs
Items	Levels of inclusion of cactus (g/kg)				SEM	p -value
Items	C₀	C₁₅₀	C₃₀₀	C₄₅₀	SEM	p -value

IBW (kg)	10.3	10.6	10.3	10.2	0.09	0.12
FBW(kg)	16.1 ^a	16.7 ^a	16.8 ^a	14.8 ^b	0.36	0.00
TWG (kg)	5.8 ^a	6.04 ^a	6.5 ^a	4.6 ^b	0.60	0.01
DWG (g/day)	64.9 ^a	67.1 ^a	72.0 ^a	51.3 ^b	74.54	0.01
FCE	0.08	0.07	0.08	0.07	0.00	0.27
^a,b,c Means with different superscripts in the row are different at p<0.05; C = cactus; DWG = daily weight gain; FBW = FINAL body weight; FCE = feed conversion efficiency; IBW = initial body weight; TWG = total weight gain. SEM = standard error of the mean

The final body weight, total weight gain and daily weight gain followed similar trend which C4 ₅₀ was lower but all the others were same (Table 3).

Nitrogen balance

Table 4. Nitrogen (N) balance of lambs
Item	Levels of inclusion of cactus (g/kg)				SEM	p-value
Item	C₀	C₁₅₀	C₃₀₀	C₄₅₀	SEM	p-value

N balance
N intake (g/day)	20.2 ^ab	21.5 ^a	19.6 ^b	15.7 ^c	1.98	<.00
N urinary (g/day)	0.92 ^b	0.96 ^b	1.2 ^a	1.3 ^a	0.04	0.00
N faecal (g/day)	5.0 ^ab	5.8 ^a	4.7 ^ab	4.1 ^b	0.89	0.07
N absorbed (g/day)	15.2 ^a	15.8 ^a	14.9 ^a	11.7 ^b	2.65	0.01
N retained (g/day)	14.3 ^a	14.8 ^a	13.7 ^a	10.4 ^b	2.53	0.00
N ret. (% of intake)	70.7	68.4	69.7	65.5	23.73	0.39

The N intake, faecal nitrogen, N absorbed, and N retained were shown decrement except urine nitrogen (Table 4). The increased urinary nitrogen might be related with high composition of water in the cactus cladodes.

Conclusions

The DMI was significantly decreased as the levels of inclusion of cactus exceeded 300 g/Kg.
The voluntary water intake was decreased
The final body weight, total weight gain and daily weight gain were significantly lower in the higher cactus inclusion.
The N intake, faecal nitrogen, N absorbed, and N retained were decreased but urine nitrogen was increased.

Acknowledgment

The author would like to acknowledge Mr. Alem Hagos for his support by giving sheep and feeds to conduct this study on his farm. In addition, special appreciation would be transfer to Haramaya University animal nutrition laboratory technicians for their support in the laboratory activities.

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