Effects of mung bean (Vigna radiat) haulm and concentrate supplementation on feed intake, body weight gain and carcass characteristics of Menz lambs fed on natural pasture hay

Thirty-yearling Menz lambs with average initial body weight of 19.72 +/- 1.96 kg (Mean +/- SD) were used to evaluate the effects of supplementing mung bean haulms (MBH) and concentrate mixture (CM) on feed intake, body weight gain and carcass characteristics of lambs fed a basal diet of natural pasture hay. The lambs were assigned into five treatments in a randomized complete block design as follows: 226 CM (T1), 77 MBH + 192 CM (T2), 154 MBH + 156 CM (T3), 231 MBH + 120 CM (T4), 308 MBH + 87 CM (T5) grams on dry matter basis. Total dry matter (DM), organic matter and metabolizable energy intakes were increased (p < 0.05) with increasing levels of MBH inclusion in the diet. The DM digestibility of T5 was greater (p < 0.05) than T2. The crude protein intake was higher (p < 0.05) in T1 and T2. Average daily gain and carcass characteristics were similar (p > 0.05) among treatments. Feed conversion efficiency for T2 was higher (p < 0.05) than T4 and T5. This study supports the use of MBH as an alternative source of protein up to 308 g (77 g MBH + 192 g CM) for better FCE.