This study was conducted to assess the effect of feeding corn steep liquor (CSL) on in vivo digestibility, ruminal pH, ammonia and hydrolytic enzyme activities, blood metabolites, feed intake (FI) and growth performance in fattening lambs. The CSL is a by-product of wet milling process of maize starch industry. The crude protein (CP), rumen-degradable protein (RDP), lactic acid and metabolisable energy contents of this by-product were 420, 324, 200 g/kg dry matter (DM) and 12.6 MJ/kg DM respectively. Twenty-seven male Moghani lambs were assigned randomly into three groups of nine lambs each in a completely randomised design. Three iso-energetic and iso-nitrogenous diets containing different levels (0, 50 or 100 g/kg dry matter) of CSL were offered ad libitum three times a day. Forage to concentrate ratio of the diets was 30:70. With inclusion of CSL in diet, the contents of canola meal, fish meal, wheat bran, corn grain and sugar beet pulp were decreased. The contents of DM, ash-free neutral detergent fibre (NDFom), ether extract, starch, Ca and S were numerically lower, but soluble protein, RDP and non-fibre carbohydrates were greater in the diets containing CSL in comparison with the control diet. The lambs fed with the diets containing CSL had lower [linear (L), p < 0.06] digestibility coefficients of DM and NDFom as compared to those fed with the diet free of CSL. Ruminal ammonia-N concentration increased (L, p < 0.05), but pH decreased (L, p < 0.05) with raising CSL level in diet. Carboxymethyl cellulase and filter paper-degrading activities decreased (L, p < 0.05), while proteases activity increased (L, p < 0.05) as dietary rates of CSL increased. Microcrystalline cellulase and ɑ-amylase activities were similar among the treatments. Within blood metabolites, only urea-N concentration increased (L, p < 0.05) in the lambs receiving CSL as compared to those fed with diet without CSL. Dietary inclusion of CSL resulted in linear decreases (L, p < 0.05) in the intakes of DM, organic matter, CP, NDFom and ash-free acid detergent fibre, and average daily gain. However, the feed conversion ratio was similar among the experimental animals. Overall, feeding CSL up to 100 g/kg diet DM in lamb resulted in reductions of rumen fibrolytic microbial enzyme activities, in vivo digestibility, FI and growth performance, but rumen proteases activity increased.
Thirty-six male Moghani lambs (31.4 ± 3.2 kg body weight) were used to investigate the effect of feeding heatprocessed broiler litter (HBL) on the growth performance and carcass characteristics using a completely randomized design (nine animals per diet). The used HBL was produced commercially by indirect heating (based on the flow of hot steam) BL at 80°C for 20 minutes. The experimental diets were contained HBL at the levels of 0, 70, 140 or 210 g/kg dry matter (DM). Dry matter intake (DMI), average daily gain (ADG), harvest data and carcass characteristics of the animals were recorded. The final body weight (FBW), cold carcass weight, DMI, ADG, feed efficiency (FE) and cost per unit production in the lambs fed diet free of HBL (control diet) were 51.3 kg, 27.0 kg, 1700 g/day, 245 g/day, 0.144 and US$1.83, respectively. Feeding the increasing levels of HBL had no significant effect on the FBW, DMI, ADG, FE and carcass weight. Back-fat thickness was decreased [linear (L), P = 0.05] with increasing the level of HBL in the diet. From the offal parts, weight of internal fat was decreased (L, P = 0.035) as the dietary level of HBL elevated. Dietary treatment had no effect on the weights of lean, bone and fat in carcass and dissected legs. Fat weight of dissected loin was decreased (L, P = 0.05) as the dietary level of HBL increased. As the level of HBL elevated in diet, cost per unit production was decreased (L, P = 0.04). It is concluded that using HBL up to 210 g/kg DM in diet of fattening Moghani lambs was possible without any effect on feed intake, growth performance and animal health, but reduced loin fat, internal fat and cost per unit production.
During a 125-d experimental period, 24 Afshari × Kurdish male lambs initially weighing 25.2 ± 1.2 kg were grouped by BW and randomly assigned to treatments under a completely randomized design with a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments to evaluate the effects of feeding recycled poultry bedding (RPB; 0 and 200 g/kg DM) and the physical form of the diet (mash and block) on nutrient intake and digestibility, ruminal and plasma parameters, microbial N supply, N balance, feeding behavior, and growth performance of the lambs. Two diets with and without RPB in both mash and block form were prepared. Neither the inclusion of RPB nor the physical form of the diet affected the concentration of VFA or the total tract apparent digestibility of nutrients. Dietary RPB inclusion increased DMI ( < 0.01), tended ( = 0.10) to reduce ADG, and decreased G:F ( = 0.05). The physical form of the diet had no effect on DMI but decreased ADG ( = 0.01) and G:F ( = 0.02) in lambs fed on the block diet compared with those fed on the mash diet. Neither the inclusion of RPB nor the physical form of the diets had any effect on microbial N supply (g/d) and N retention. Rate of eating ( = 0.07), time spent eating ( = 0.87) and ruminating ( = 0.28), and total chewing activity ( = 0.65) were not affected by dietary RPB inclusion. Rate of eating decreased ( < 0.01) and time spent eating and total chewing activity increased ( = 0.01 and = 0.02, respectively) in lambs fed on the block diet compared with those fed on the mash diet. Results of the current study showed that inclusion of RPB up to 200 g/kg DM in diets for fattening was possible without any effect on performance and animal health. Processing of feed into the mash form gave higher livestock productivity in comparison to the block form.
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