Effect of Millettia ferruginea (Birbra) foliage supplementation on feed intake, digestibility, body weight change and carcass characterstics of Washera sheep fed natural pasture grass hay basal diet

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Table 6 Carcass characteristics of Washera sheep fed natural pasture grass hay supplemented with Millettia ferruginea leaf hay

Parameters	Treatments
Parameters	T1	T2	T3	T4	SEM
Slaughter weight (kg)	18.3	17.6	18.2	17.7	0.82
Empty body weight (kg)	12.2	11.9	12.3	12.3	0.51
Hot carcass weight (kg)	5.8	5.7	5.9	6.0	0.24
Dressing percentage
Empty body weight basis	47.4^b	47.8^b	48.0^ab	48.9^a	1.23
Slaughter body weight basis	31.7^b	32.4^ab	32.4^ab	33.9^a	0.83
Total edible offal (kg)	2.6	2.4	2.6	2.7	0.15
Total non edible offal (kg)	9.9	9.5	9.7	9.0	0.61
Total useable product weight (kg)	10.8	10.5	10.7	10.8	0.45
Rib eye area (cm²)	7.3	7.9	7.3	6.6	0.64

^a,bMeans within a row with different superscripts differ significantly (P < 0.05); SEM = standard error of the mean; MFLH = Millettia ferruginea leaf hay; T1 = sole natural pasture grass hay fed ad libitum; T2 = 150 g MFLH + natural pasture grass hay fed ad libitum; T3 = 300 g MFLH + natural pasture grass hay fed ad libitum; T4 = 450 g MFLH + natural pasture grass hay fed ad libitum.