Effect of supplementing Tsara (Pterocarpus lucens), pigeon pea (Cajanes cajan) leaves and concentrate mixture on carcass characteristics of Begait sheep fed hay as a basal diet

The study was conducted with the objective of determining the carcass characteristics of Begait sheep fed hay basal diet and supplemented with different levels of Tsara (Pterocarpus lucens) leaves, pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) leaves and concentrate mixture on iso-nitrogenous basis to supply 66.60 g/day crude protein on dry matter (DM) basis. Twenty five yearling male Begait sheep with initial body weight (BW) of 24.2±1.1 kg (Mean±SD) were used in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) based on their initial BW. The hay was fed on ad libitum basis to all sheep. Treatments were hay alone (T1) or supplemented with 400 g DM Tsara leaf (T2), 320 g DM pigeon pea leaf (T3), 360 g DM  mixtures of Tsara and pigeon pea leaves (T4) and 300 g DM concentrate mixture (75% rice bran and 25% sesame seed cake; T5). The study consisted of 90 days feeding trial and carcass evaluation at the end. The average final body weight was 32.2, 31.6, 27.76, 28 and 26.88 kg (standard error of mean, SEM = 0.38) in the order of T5 > T2 > T3 = T4 > T1. Hot carcass weight of 14.9, 14.3, 11.3, 11.2 and 9.5 (SEM = 0.33) followed almost a similar trend to that of the final body weight except that values for T2 and T5 were similar. In conclusion, based on the biological performance results supplementation of concentrate mixture (T5) and Tsara (T2) induced a comparable response and were better than the supplemental regimes that contained pigeon pea and are therefore recommended. Key words: Begait sheep, dressing percentage, edible offal components, empty body weight hot carcass weight, non-edible offal components, rib eye muscle area, slaughter weight.