THE EFFECTS OF CONCENTRATE FEED SUPPLEMENTATION ON THE THE VISCERAL ORGAN WEIGHTS OF GRASSCUTTERS FED ELEPHANT GRASS AS BASAL FEED

Abstract

A 24 week feeding trial was used to study the effect of different levels of concentrate feeding regimes on thevisceral organs weights of the grasscutter fed Elephant grass as basal feed. Twenty grasscutters of age 3 months were randomly assigned in equal numbers to five concentrate supplementary feeding regimes fed at their percentage weekly body live weight of 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9% for T1, T2, T3, T4, and T5 respectively, using a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). The data collected were subjected to analysis of variance and significant difference separated where observed. The weights, of the liver, kidneys, heart, spleen and gall bladders did not differ significantly (P>0.05) but the lungs and pancreas were significantly (P<0.05) different. It was concluded that, since all the organs were not damaged, no mortality and no any sign of distress among the grasscutters, it implies that, the feeding regimes of up to 9% did not have adverse effect on them. It is therefore recommended that, the concentrate feeding regimes should be used in feeding grasscutters.