Performance and Carcass Characteristics of Four Breeds of Rams in Nigeria under Fattening Condition

Abstract

The constraints to large scale production in the developing countries are non-identification of fast- growing breeds and unavailability of adequate feed. It is therefore necessary to explore all possible avenues to adequately increase meat production for human consumption through assessing the performance of the local breeds of rams. Four breeds of rams: Balami (BM), Uda (UD), Yankasa (YKS) and West African Dwarf (WAD), a total of forty-eight rams, consisting of twelve rams per breed, with average weight of 17-19kg, were fed with energy based diet of 2.77Mcal/kg Metabolizable Energy for ninety days. The Average Daily Weight Gain (ADWG) was determined. Eight rams per breed were randomly selected and sacrificed to determine the Dressing Percentage and Rib Eye Area (REA). Data were analysed using Descriptive and ANOVA α 0.05. The ADWG (g) of BM, UD, YKS and WAD were 210.00±0.01, 200.00±0.01, 180.00±0.02 and 160.00±0.03, respectively. The DP (%) of the breeds was 51.5±2.06, 52.36±1.44, 52.25±2.02 and 552.80±2.62 for BM, UD, YKS and WAD, respectively. The REA (inch2) of BM (2.75±0.01) was higher than UD (2.33±0.02), YKS (2.03±0.01) and WAD (1.43±