INFLUENCE OF COPPER GLYCINE SUPPLEMENTATION ON THE CARCASS CHARACTERISTICS OF WEST AFRICAN DWARF SHEEP
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51791/njap.vi.7377Keywords:
Carcass, food security, ruminants, Copper deficiency, Dressing percentageAbstract
A feeding trial was conducted for 90 days using sixteen (16) West African dwarf (WAD) Sheep to evaluate the influence of Copper Glycine (Cu-G) supplementation on carcass characteristics of WAD sheep. The sheep were randomly assigned into four dietary treatments in a Completely Randomized Design. Cu-G supplementation was incorporated at varying levels of 0, 5, 10 and 15 mg/kg to formulate four (4) dietary treatments. After feeding trial, three sheep were randomly selected and slaughtered for carcass evaluation to obtain the wholesales cut (rump, neck, flank, shoulder, loin, breastplate, rack). Cu-G supplementation did not significantly (P>0.05) influence carcass characteristics of WAD sheep. Slaughter weight, shoulder, flank and heart values obtained in this study ranged from 21.52-25.19, 7.88-9.57, 2.88-4.07 and 0.35-0.63 % respectively. It can be concluded that Cu-G supplementation in diets of WAD sheep had no influence on the carcass
characteristics of West African Dwarf.