ASSESSMENT OF CATTLE FATTENING PRACTICES IN DESSIE AND KOMBOLCHA URBAN AND PERI-URBAN AREAS OF ETHIOPIA, AND EFFECTS OF CONCENTRATE SUPPLEMENTATION ON FATTENING PERFORMANCE OF WOLLO OXEN
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2018-06
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
This study embraced a survey and feeding trial. The survey was conducted with the objectives of
assessing cattle fattening practices and identifying common conventional and non-conventional
feed resources used for cattle fattening in urban and peri-urban kebeles of Dessie and
Kombolcha areas. The feeding trial was carried out with the objective of evaluating the effects of
supplementing different concentrate feeds of varied protein sources on feed intake, weight gain
and dressing percentage of Wollo oxen and economic feasibility of treatments. For the survey,
peri-urban and urban cattle fatteners were selected using systematic random sampling and
complete enumeration techniques. Nine (3 urban and 6 peri-urban) and 10 (4 urban and 6 periurban)
kebeles from Dessie and Kombolcha areas were included in the study, respectively. Thus,
337 cattle fatteners (190 and 147 from Dessie and Kombolcha, respectively) were interviewed
using pre tested structured questionnaire. Focus group discussions, key informant interviews and
field observations were also employed for data collection. Feed resources used for cattle
fattening, their availability, potential suppliers, price and distribution in the study areas were
identified and the chemical composition of most commonly used feeds were determined. For the
feeding trial, fifteen Wollo oxen were used for 90 days experiment. Experimental animals were
randomly distributed into 3 treatments each replicated 5 times in a randomized complete block
design (RCBD). Treatments included; grass hay as basal diet, wheat bran and crushed corn
grain as energy sources across the treatment and grass pea leftover, poultry litter and dried
brewery grain were represented T1, T2 and T3 as a protein sources, respectively. Feed intake
and body weight measurements were taken daily and at 15 days interval, respectively. In
addition, body condition score measurement was taken. To identify the most promising treatment
diet, partial budget analysis was calculated. Data generated in the survey were analyzed for
descriptive statistics and index ranking, while data generated in feeding trial were subjected to two way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and least significance difference (LSD) was used for
mean separation. The survey results indicated that, cattle fattening practices in Dessie and
Kombolcha areas were structured into two categories, viz., urban and peri-urban cattle fattening
practices. A byproduct based and a combination of traditional and byproduct based cattle
fattening systems were identified in both areas. The cattle fattening practices in both areas were
tightened with so many limitations that need short and long-term interventions, although there
were so many favorable opportunities for the sector. In both study areas, 42 feed resources used
for cattle fattening were identified, where 39 feeds were common for both towns. The rest three
were unique to Kombolcha town. There was seasonal variability in feed distribution and
availability in both study areas. Results of the feeding trial showed that, final body weight (FBW),
overall body weight gain (BWG), average daily gain (ADG), feed conversion efficiency (FCE)
and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were significantly higher (P <0.05) for oxen in T2 than T1 and
T3. The dressing percentage on the basis of slaughter body weight was significantly higher
(P<0.001) for oxen supplemented with poultry litter (T2). The partial budget analysis revealed
that T2 resulted in a higher profit margin than T1 and T3. From the results of the present study, it
can be concluded that poultry litter (T2) is biologically more promising and economically
beneficial for cattle fattening on grass hay based diet supplemented with a mixture of wheat bran
and crushed corn grain. Furthermore, it is advisable to focus on the identified opportunities in
the survey and there should be functional linkage between stakeholders for profitable cattle
fattening practices and to alleviate the recognized limitations in urban and peri-urban areas of
the study areas.
Description
PhD Thesis
Keywords
Cattle fattening practices, conventional feeds, dressing percentage