An experiment was conducted to evaluate four (4) different locally available feedstuffs, two energy source (cowpea husk and dusa-mixture of brans) and two protein source (poultry litter and groundnut haulms) at different levels of inclusion to formulate nine (9) diets (F1 – F9) to serve as dry season supplement for ruminants. The proximate analysis of these ingredients revealed that blending different ingredients can efficiently meet the requirement of ruminants during the long dry season in semi arid region. While rumen degradation study of the diets was carried out at 6, 12, 18,24,36,48 and 72 hours of incubation to determine the degradability of the diets and the overall result shows that all the formulations recorded above 60 %DM degradability at 48 h period of incubation except F4 with 48.58% with no significant (P>0.05) between F1, F2, F3, F5, F6, F7, F8 and F9.The mean values for the potential degradation of the dry rations were generally high and vary significantly (p<0.05) among all the formulations with a range of 71.53% to 80.97% at 72h. The analysis of cost of producing the formulations shows that F4 has the highest Ã?¢Ã?â??Ã?¦ 3,200 (about $19.39) while F6 had the least Ã?¢Ã?â??Ã?¦ 2,675 (about $16.21) which is affordable to both small scale ruminant owners as well as nomads.
