SUMMARYSixteen Suffolk lambs with 29 ± 2·0 kg body weight were housed in individual cages for 60 days and allotted to four treatments in a completely randomized design to determine the effect of administration of Salix babylonica (SB) extract and/or exogenous enzymes (ZADO ® ) on lamb performance. Lambs were fed with 300 g/kg concentrate (160 g crude protein (CP)/kg, 13·4 MJ metabolizable energy (ME)/kg dry matter (DM)) and 700 g/kg maize silage (80 g/kg CP, 11·7 MJ ME/kg DM) as a basal diet (control). Another three treatments were tested; the SB extract was administered at 30 ml/day (SB) and exogenous enzymes ZADO ® (i.e. an exogenous enzyme cocktail in a powder form) directly fed at 10 g/day (EZ), while the last treatment contained ZADO ® at 10 g/day + SB extract at 30 ml/day (EZSB). Lambs of the treatment EZSB had the greatest average daily weight gain (ADG) and feed conversion throughout the period of the experiment. However, during the first 30 days SB was more effective for ADG than EZ and vice versa during the last 30 days of the experiment. Water consumption was greater for SB, followed by EZ and EZSB compared to the control. Intakes of DM and organic matter (OM) were the highest in EZSB followed by EZ, which had the greatest neutral detergent fibre, acid detergent fibre (ADF) and nitrogen (N) intakes. The EZSB treatment had the greatest DM and OM digestibilities compared to the other treatments; however, SB had the greatest ADF digestibility. Combination of EZ and SB had the best N balance. Allantoin, total purine derivatives (PD), allantoin : -creatinine ratio, and PD : creatinine ratio were increased in EZSB compared to the other treatments. However, EZ supplementation increased uric acid concentration, whereas the microbial N (g N/day) and metabolizable protein (g N/day) were increased in EZSB versus the other treatments. It can be concluded that addition of 10 g ZADO ® in combination with S. babylonica extract at 30 ml/day in the diet of lambs increased feed intake, nutrient digestibility and daily gain, with a positive impact on the use of N and microbial protein synthesis.

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a b s t r a c tSixteen Quarter Horse mares (450 to 500-kg body weight) were used in a complete randomized design to determine the effects of feeding a high fiber diet with or without exogenous fibrolytic enzymes on nutrient digestion, blood chemistry, fecal coliform count, and in vitro fecal fermentation. The treatments comprised feeding the horses (1) a basal diet without enzyme addition (control); (2) control diet plus cellulase at 10 mL/mare/ d (CELL); (3) control diet plus xylanase at 10 mL/mare/d (XYL); or (4) control diet plus a mixture of 5 mL cellulase and 5 mL xylanase/mare/d (CX). The basal concentrate diet consisted of a mixture of 50% commercial concentrate and 50% wheat bran fed at 4 kg/ horse, offered twice daily at 04:00 and 16:00 hours, and oat straw offered ad libitum at 05:00 and 17:00 hours. The enzyme allocation for each day was mixed with 1 kg of concentrate diet at 04:00 hours, and the experiment lasted for 15 days comprising 10 days of adaptation and 5 days for sample collection. The in vitro cecal fermentation with addition of 2 mL/g dry matter (DM) of each enzyme (CELL, XYL, and CX) to a basal diet of oat straw and concentrates mixture (1:1 DM) as a substrate was carried out. The mares fed enzyme-supplemented diets had greater (P < .01) oat straw and total nutrients intakes compared with the control diet. Feeding enzyme-supplemented diets increased total nutrients digestibility (P < .05) and blood total protein (P ¼ .0277) compared with the control. Feeding XYL-supplemented diet increased blood alanine transaminase and aspartate aminotransferase concentrations (P < .05) compared with control treatment. Lower fecal coliform count was obtained (P ¼ .0114) with mares fed CX diet compared with control mares. The XYL and CX treatments had decreased asymptotic gas production (GP) (P ¼ .0173) with lower rate of GP (P ¼ .0412) compared with CELL treatment. CELL and XYL treatments had decreased (P ¼ .0394) lag times compared with control and CX treatments. At 24 hours of incubation, CELL and XYL treatments decreased methane production (P ¼ .0131), whereas CX treatment increased its production at 48 hours (P ¼ .0202) compared with control treatment. No effect was observed (P > .05) with enzymes addition on carbon dioxide production at different hours of incubation compared with control treatment. Higher in vitro DM degradability values (P ¼ .0092) were obtained with the enzyme

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The aim of this study was to determine the effects of increasing levels of two feed additives composed of Salix babylonica (SB) extract and minerals mixture (MM) or their combination on in vitro gas production (GP) and dry matter (DM) degradability of total mixed ration (TMR; 50 concentrate: 50 corn silage, on DM basis). Combinations of four levels of SB extract (0, 0.6, 1.2 and 1.8 mL/g DM) with four levels of MM (0, 0.5, 1.5 and 2.5 g/100 g DM) were evaluated in a completely random design. Samples of TMR (1 g) were weighed in 120 mL serum bottles with addition of SB extract and/or MM. Then, 10 mL of particle free ruminal fluid were added followed by 40 mL of the buffer solution. The GP was recorded at 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 24, 48 and 72 h of incubation. Addition of SB extract, without MM, increased (P<0.05) asymptotic GP (mL/g DM), the rate of GP (/h), GP and DM degradability (DMD). Addition of MM, without SB, increased (P<0.05) b and decreased c and ruminal pH. Increasing the levels of SB increased (P<0.05) b, c, L, and GP in addition to linearly increase (P<0.001) DMD. Increasing levels of MM increased (P<0.05) b and c while decreased pH. An interaction occurred between different SB extract and MM levels: the most effective levels of SB extract and MM on ruminal fermentation and kinetics were 1.8 mL SB extract/g DM and 2.5 g MM/100 g DM.