Authors: Fasae, O. A.; Emiola, O. S.; Adu, I. F.
Archivos de Zootecnia 2009 Vol. 58 No. Supl.1 pp. 601-604
ISSN 0004-0592
Abstract
An experiment was carried out in Nigeria to assess the effect of season and sex on the manure produced from West African Dwarf sheep. Eight sheep (4 rams and 4 ewes) aged 2 to 3 years with an average weight of 18.25 kg were randomly selected from the sheep flock. They were fed daily at 4% of their body weight with Panicum maximum supplemented with 150 g of concentrate, and water ad libitum. Feed intake was 2.77 to 2.90% of the live weight. Average daily live weight gain was higher (P<0.05) in the wet season (45.14 g/day) than in the dry season (40.89 g/day). The quantity of dry matter (DM) manure produced from rams in both seasons (153.30 kg/year) was higher than 140.52 kg/year produced from ewes. N, P and K in manure were higher (P<0.05) in the wet season in both sexes with the ewe manure having higher (P<0.05) nutrients. A sheep with an average weight of 18.25 kg voided an average of 146.91 DM kg/year, producing 2.89 kg N, 0.98 kg P and 1.89 kg K. It is concluded that sheep manure could be used as a fertilizer in organic production.