Digestibility of Sudanese Desert lambs fed Diets of Different Proportions of WaterMelon (Citrullus lanatus) Seed Cake

The present study was conducted to evaluate nutrient digestibility of water melon (Citrullus lanatus) seed cake as a possible protein supplement for growing Iamb in comparison to groundnut cake. Graded proportion of water melon seed cake (WMSC) (0, 25, 50, 75, 100%) which replace groundnut cake (GNC) were in orporated in five diets iso-caloric, iso-nitrogenous diet for lamb. Diet A contained 0% proportion of WMSC, diet B, C, D and E contained 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% WMSC proportions respectively. Fifteen desert lambs were used in a digestibility trial for five days. Digestibility coefficient of dry matter, protein and crude fibre differ significantly (P < 0.05, P < 0.05 and P < 0.001) among the treatment groups respectively. No significant difference was observed for digestibility coefficients of organic matter and ether extract. Dietary treatments affected significantly (P <0.05, P < 0.01 and P <0.05) digestible crude protein, digestible crude fibre and digestible ether extract respectively content, while group E had the lowest fat content and highest moisture content. Fat content was decrease with increasing level of WMSC inclusion in the diet, while moisture^ content increase with it increasing level. Digestibility coefficients of nutrients, digestible nutrients and total digestible nutrients were tended to be similar to that of GNC diets.