Growth Response, Carcass Yield and Meat Quality of West African Dwarf Sheep Fed Graded Level of Shea Cake Meal

Growth response, carcass characteristics and meat quality of West African Dwarf (WAD) sheep fed Shea Cake Meal (SCM) supplement was investigated. A total of 24 WAD sheep of average body weight ranges from 11-12.65 kg comprising of twelve (12) males and twelve (12) females were randomly allotted to four dietary treatments with six animals per treatment in a completely randomized design in a twelve (12) weeks experimental period. Treatment 1 was control and had no inclusion of SCM. Treatments 2, 3 and 4 had 10%, 15% and 20% inclusion of SCM. Results were significantly different (P<0.05) across treatments. Average weight gain ranged from 10.0 kg (SCM-10) to 13.12 kg (SCM-15). T3 recorded highest values for average feed intake (AFI) at a record value of 63.50 kg. T2 had the least feed conversion ratio of 4.81. The carcass quality and sensory evaluation were significantly affected (P<0.05) across the treatments. Hot carcass weight (HCW) ranged from 18.90 kg (SCM-10) to 20.85 kg (SCM-15). Cold carcass weight was recorded 18.05 kg (SCM-10) and 19.95 kg (SCM-20), respectively. Minimum chilling loss of 3.96% was recorded at SCM-15 inclusion level. Animals on SCM-15 inclusion recorded the highest value of 7.55, 7.25 and 7.25 respectively for appearance, tenderness and overall acceptability. SCM-20 had highest value of 7.50 for juiciness compared to SCM-10 and SCM-15 with recorded values of 6.80 and 7.20, respectively. The study showed that all the dietary inclusion was satisfactory as feed for small ruminants without any deleterious effect on their performance as well as on carcass yield and meat quality. Inclusion level of SCM-15 supplement had highest overall performance when fed to (WAD) sheep.