Apparent Dry Matter and Nutrient Digestibility of Different Varieties of Vetch Hay Supplemented to Arsi Bale Sheep Fed a Basal Diet of Fodder Oat Hay

An experiment was conducted to evaluate apparent dry matter and nutrient digestibility of hay of vetch varieties supplemented to sheep fed a basal diet of fodder oat hay. Thirty-five yearling intact male sheep were assigned to one of the five treatments in a randomized complete block design. The dietary treatments were ad libitum fodder oat hay alone (T1) and ad libitum fodder oat hay supplemented with 350g hay of Gebisa, Lalisa, Abdeta and Vicia sativa vetch varieties for T2, T3, T4 and T5 respectively. The Digestibility trial lasted for 10 days. Supplementation of the vetch varieties increased dry matter digestibility by 11.6 and 1.9% for T2 and T3, respectively and by 3.6% for T4 and T5 compared to the control. Among the supplemented groups, supplementation of Gebisa vetch variety (T2) induced the highest (65.2%) dry matter digestibility. Supplementation of the vetch varieties increased the crude protein digestibility by 15.3, 6.2, 5.9 and 8.2% for T2, T3, T4 and T5, respectively compared to the un-supplemented treatment. Among the supplemented treatments, T2 induced significantly higher (P<0.001) crude protein digestibility than T3, T4 and T5. In conclusion, supplementation of Gebisa vetch variety (T2) induced highest dry matter and nutrient digestibility than all other treatments. Therefore, Gebisa vetch variety should be introduced and scaled up widely for sheep feeding.