Supplementation for sheep grazing on cereal stubble under poor dryland conditions in Morocco

This experiment was conducted in order to study the effect of 4 different types of supplementation on sheep performance when grazing wheat stubble in a semi arid region of Morocco at twelve ewes and two lambs per ha. Supplementation started after more than two months of stubble grazing and consisted of either 250 of barley grain, 250 g of commercial feed, 1.5 kg of Atriplex leaves and twigs per head per day or molasses based feed blocks offered ad libitum. Supplementation coincided with late gestation and early lactation in ewes. Ewes live weight gain was similar under all supplementation types. Lambs birth weight and growth during early lactation did not differ significantly with the type of supplementation received by their mothers. Stubble biomass declined from 3 058 at the start of grazing to 928 kg per ha after four months of grazing.