This experiment was conducted to study effects of supplementation with raw, malted and heat treated grass pea on live weight gain and carcass characteristics of Farta sheep fed on natural pasture grass hay as basal diet. Twenty intact male yearling Farta sheep with an average initial weight of 17.68±1.45 kg (Mean ± SD) were arranged in a randomized complete block design (RCBD). Animals were blocked in to 5 blocks based on their initial body weight and randomly assigned to treatments. Treatments were grass hay alone fed ad libitum (T1), or with 300 gm raw grass pea (T2), 300 gm malted grass pea (T3) and 300 g heat treated grass pea (T4) on dry matter (DM) basis. The study consisted 12 weeks feeding trial followed by carcass evaluation. Average daily weight gain (-11, 50, 48 and 66 g/d) and hot carcass yield (6.4, 9.3, 9.4 and 10.1 kg for T1, T2, T3 and T4, respectively) were different among treatments (P<0.05) and were in the order of T4>T3=T2>T1. Partial budget analysis also showed that net return was in the order of T4>T2>T3 and the non supplemented group resulted to a negative value. Therefore, from biological point of view as well as based on partial budget analysis, T4 was recommended and as such heat treatment of grass pea may bring better results in animal performance and economic gains.
Keywords: Raw, malted, heat treated, grass pea, weight gain.