Dietary Supplements Improve the Growth Performance and Carcass Yields of Indigenous Sheep in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis Study

ABSTRACT Despite the large number of sheep in Ethiopia, their productivity remains low, mainly due to inadequate and poor‐quality feed. Therefore, this systematic review and meta‐analysis study was conducted to evaluate the effect of dietary supplements on the growth performance and carcass yield in...

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Main Authors: Hussen Ebrahim, Kefyalew Alemayehu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2025-01-01
Series:Veterinary Medicine and Science
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1002/vms3.70129
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author Hussen Ebrahim
Kefyalew Alemayehu
author_facet Hussen Ebrahim
Kefyalew Alemayehu
author_sort Hussen Ebrahim
collection DOAJ
description ABSTRACT Despite the large number of sheep in Ethiopia, their productivity remains low, mainly due to inadequate and poor‐quality feed. Therefore, this systematic review and meta‐analysis study was conducted to evaluate the effect of dietary supplements on the growth performance and carcass yield indices of indigenous sheep in Ethiopia. This study included a total of 21 studies that used 533 sheep from 11 breeds. We used Meta‐Essentials Version 1.5 to determine the effect sizes in a mixed‐effects model at p < 0.05. The current meta‐analyses revealed that dietary supplements had a positive and significant effect (p of Z ≤ 0.001) on the total dry matter intake (Hedges' g = 6.84 g/day/head), final body weight (Hedges' g = 3.65 kg/head), average daily gain (Hedges' g = 3.59 g/head), feed conversion efficiency (Hedges' g = 0.72 g/g), slaughter weight (Hedges' g = 2.56 kg/head) and hot carcass (Hedges' g = 2.73 kg/head) of sheep compared to the control. The meta‐analysis suggests that sheep of different breeds and sexes that were fed supplemental diets responded differently. In addition, the subgroup analysis declared that dietary supplementation of legumes resulted in a higher magnitude of effect sizes for all response variables in sheep in comparison to sheep supplemented with concentrate and browse. We detected diverse heterogeneity across studies for all response variables that ranged between 0% and 96.65%. It can be concluded that dietary supplements had a positive and significant impact on feed efficiency, growth performance and carcass yield in indigenous sheep, particularly Afar sheep, followed by Arsi Bale and Washera sheep, in Ethiopia.
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spelling doaj-art-d5ff00d4a1c0453987257ffa282ea4d12025-08-20T02:40:41ZengWileyVeterinary Medicine and Science2053-10952025-01-01111n/an/a10.1002/vms3.70129Dietary Supplements Improve the Growth Performance and Carcass Yields of Indigenous Sheep in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis StudyHussen Ebrahim0Kefyalew Alemayehu1Department of Animal ScienceWoldia UniversityWoldiaEthiopiaDepartment of Animal ScienceBahir Dar UniversityBahir DarEthiopiaABSTRACT Despite the large number of sheep in Ethiopia, their productivity remains low, mainly due to inadequate and poor‐quality feed. Therefore, this systematic review and meta‐analysis study was conducted to evaluate the effect of dietary supplements on the growth performance and carcass yield indices of indigenous sheep in Ethiopia. This study included a total of 21 studies that used 533 sheep from 11 breeds. We used Meta‐Essentials Version 1.5 to determine the effect sizes in a mixed‐effects model at p < 0.05. The current meta‐analyses revealed that dietary supplements had a positive and significant effect (p of Z ≤ 0.001) on the total dry matter intake (Hedges' g = 6.84 g/day/head), final body weight (Hedges' g = 3.65 kg/head), average daily gain (Hedges' g = 3.59 g/head), feed conversion efficiency (Hedges' g = 0.72 g/g), slaughter weight (Hedges' g = 2.56 kg/head) and hot carcass (Hedges' g = 2.73 kg/head) of sheep compared to the control. The meta‐analysis suggests that sheep of different breeds and sexes that were fed supplemental diets responded differently. In addition, the subgroup analysis declared that dietary supplementation of legumes resulted in a higher magnitude of effect sizes for all response variables in sheep in comparison to sheep supplemented with concentrate and browse. We detected diverse heterogeneity across studies for all response variables that ranged between 0% and 96.65%. It can be concluded that dietary supplements had a positive and significant impact on feed efficiency, growth performance and carcass yield in indigenous sheep, particularly Afar sheep, followed by Arsi Bale and Washera sheep, in Ethiopia.https://doi.org/10.1002/vms3.70129carcass yielddietary supplementgrowth performanceindigenous sheep
spellingShingle Hussen Ebrahim
Kefyalew Alemayehu
Dietary Supplements Improve the Growth Performance and Carcass Yields of Indigenous Sheep in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis Study
Veterinary Medicine and Science
carcass yield
dietary supplement
growth performance
indigenous sheep
title Dietary Supplements Improve the Growth Performance and Carcass Yields of Indigenous Sheep in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis Study
title_full Dietary Supplements Improve the Growth Performance and Carcass Yields of Indigenous Sheep in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis Study
title_fullStr Dietary Supplements Improve the Growth Performance and Carcass Yields of Indigenous Sheep in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis Study
title_full_unstemmed Dietary Supplements Improve the Growth Performance and Carcass Yields of Indigenous Sheep in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis Study
title_short Dietary Supplements Improve the Growth Performance and Carcass Yields of Indigenous Sheep in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis Study
title_sort dietary supplements improve the growth performance and carcass yields of indigenous sheep in ethiopia a systematic review and meta analysis study
topic carcass yield
dietary supplement
growth performance
indigenous sheep
url https://doi.org/10.1002/vms3.70129
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AT kefyalewalemayehu dietarysupplementsimprovethegrowthperformanceandcarcassyieldsofindigenoussheepinethiopiaasystematicreviewandmetaanalysisstudy