Abstract
An experiment to evaluate the growth performance of White Fulani Calves fed ensiled Rauvolfia vomitoria (RV) leaves and Brewers’ Spent Grain Based diet was undertaken. The ensiling lasted for 21 days. Nine (9) Fulani Calves procured for this experiment were randomly divided into 3 treatment groups of three animals per replicate, such that there was a control diet (Treatment 1) and two treatment diets (Treatment 2 and Treatment 3). Based on body weight, Treatment 1 (control) was fed 3% Concentrate, 0% Silage, and 4% forage; Treatment 2 was fed 3% Silage and 4% forage; and Treatment 3 was fed 4% silage and 3% forage. The experiment was carried out using a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) and lasted for 56 days. The first stage of the experiment had RV included from 20 % - 80 % as against/ratio BSG of 80 % - 20 % and this led to the adoption of the 20% RV and 80% BSG as the most preferred and appropriate silage mixture for the study. In the second stage of the experiment, the study evaluated the effect of feeding White Fulani calves ensiled brewers’ spent grain and Rauvolfia vomitoria at 3% and 4% of their body weight on their growth performance. The ensiled brewers’ spent grain and Rauvolfia vomitoria had a significant effect (p<0.05) on the weight change, feed intake and feed conversion ratio. The difference in the weight change showed that the calves fed the T3 diets gained the most weight (48.58kg) during the feeding trial, and the change was significantly higher (p<0.05) than those fed T2 (32.65kg) and the control diet (27.55kg), respectively. However, the total dry matter feed intake showed no significant differences, though those on T3 consumed numerically higher than the others. Finally, in the Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR), there was also a significant difference (p<0.05) with the lowest FCR recorded by the calves fed the T3 diets (4.13), and it was significantly (p<0.05) lower than those fed the control diet (5.86). The effect of feeding this 80% BSG and 20% Rauvolfia vomitoria silage to the calves at 4% of body weight resulted in the highest weight gain and the best feed conversion ratio, and is therefore recommended as the optimum level of supplementation.