ABSTRACT

A total of fourteen West African Dwarf(WAD) sheep (12 ewes and 2 rams) were used. The rams were used for mating while the twelve WAD ewes and their lambs were used to study the effect of Cyperus esculentus L. on milk yield, composition and lambs growth. The animals were assigned to two treatment groups, TI and T; represented as control and treated respectively. The ewes in T 2 (Treated) group received diet containing 20% tiger nut inclusion immediately after lambing at 0.5 kg/ewe/day while the T; were fed concentrate diet devoid of tiger nut. Milking of the animals started one-week postpartum and lasted for twelve weeks. Results showed that Cyperus esculentus generally enhanced milk yield with a significant difference (P<0.05). The mean milk yield of ewes in T; was 506.68 g while T; was 389.64 g. Colostrums were collected and analyzed from days I to 4 post-partum. There was significantly higher (P<0.05) lactose content in the colostrum of the control (3.56%) than that of the treated group (3.36%). Nonnal milk lactose from control ewes was 3.38% and was significantly higher (P<0.05) than that of the treated group, which was 3.29%. At weeks 1, 3, 4, 8, 11 and 12, lactose content of milk of ewes in control group were 3.56, 3 .59, 3.51, 3 .30, 3 .21, and 3.20% respectively, and were significantly higher (P<0.05) than those of their respective counterparts in the treated group which were 3.36, 3.39, 3.38, 3.24, 3.18 and 3.15. Lambs of control ewes weighed significantly (P<0.05) more than those of the treated (3.08 kg and 2.52 kg respectively). The lower weight in lambs from T 2 could be due to multiple births in this group. Packed Cell Volume (PVC), White Blood Cell Count (WBC) and Red Blood Cell Count (RBC) showed no difference (P>0.05) between the two groups.