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A seventy (70) day feeding study was conducted to assess the nutritive value of untreated and alkali treated bush
foggage (Panicum maximum standing hay) in West African Dwarf rams diets. Silage of bush foggage treated with
lye, calcium hydroxide and urea solutions were prepared and allowed to stand for thirty (30) days. Four diets were
prepared as follow; A (untreated-bush foggage), B: (Lye-treated bush foggage), C: (1% Calcium hydroxide-treated
bush foggage) and D: (5% Urea-treated bush foggage) Twenty West African Dwarf rams that weighed 24.40 ±1.02
kg and aged 24-30 months were selected from the flock of small ruminant unit of the Teaching and Research farm,
Federal University of Technology, Akure. The rams were divided into four groups of five (5) rams per group and fed
the diets for 70 days in a Completely Randomized Design experiment. Chemical composition of untreated and
alkali treated bush foggage diets revealed that all nutrients determined were significantly (P<0.05) influenced by
the treatment except cellulose and energy. Dry matter ranged from 73.52 (diet C) to 84.08 % (diet A) while crude
proteins of diets B, C and D were improved due to alkali treatment and fermentation. The highest crude protein
(12.86 %) was obtained in urea treated bush foggage. The least energy content (15.32 KJ/100g DM) was obtained
in untreated bush foggage. The fibre fraction decreased with alkali treatment and fermentation when compared to
value obtained in the untreated bush foggage. The results of nutrients intake revealed significant (P<0.05)
influence by the treatment, dry matter intake ranged from 523.30 to 723 g/day. Crude protein intake increased with
alkali treated bush foggage, the rams fed diet D had the highest crude protein intake. Apparent digestibility
coefficient of nutrients was significantly (P<0.05) influenced by the treatment, the rams fed diet D digested their
feed better compared to other rams. Rams fed urea-treated bush foggage had the highest nitrogen balance
(11.35g/day), weight gain (16.43 g/day) and converted their feed (44.04) to flesh better compared to rams fed
untreated bush foggage. The results indicated that alkali treatment improved the nutritive value of poor quality
bush foggage and could therefore support the small ruminants' performance.
Key words:- Alkali solution, bush foggage, nitrogen balance, performance, rams