Background: The present work aimed to investigate the impact of partial replacement yellow corn by mango seed kernels (MSK) at different levels of (0, 25, and 50%) on feed and water consumption, water metabolism, nutrient digestibility, nitrogen balance, and rumen fluid parameters. Methods: Twelve mature male Rahmani sheep of about 58.39 ± 1.22 kg live body weight on average were used to investigate the influence of replacing yellow corn contents (45% in the control ration) by mango seed kernels (MSK) at different levels (0, 25, and 50%) that equal (0, 11.25, and 22.5% of total ration contents) on feed and water intakes, water metabolism, nutrient digestibility coefficients, nitrogen utilization, and some rumen fluid parameters. The animals were randomly assigned to three experimental groups (four animals in each treatment). Sheep fed rations are composed of 50% concentrate feed mixture (CFM) and 50% peanut vein hay (PVH) at portion 3% dry matter (DM) of live body weight (LBW). Results: The results showed that values of crude protein (CP), crude fiber (CF), and nitrogen-free extract (NFE) of MSK and yellow corn were similar. Meanwhile, MSK has superior ether extract content compared to yellow corn; meanwhile, ash content of yellow corn was lower than ash content of MSK. All tested CFM were isonitrogenous (16.17% CP), but it differs in their contents of gross and digestible energy. On the other hand, all experimental total mixed rations (TMR) were isonitrogenous (14.52% CP) and isocaloric (4177 kcal/kg DM in average). Dietary treatments significantly (P < 0.05) decreased total dry matter intake (DMI) and crude protein intake (CPI) that expressed as (g/h/day, g/kgW 0.75 , and kg/100 kg LBW) or gross energy intake (GEI) and digestible energy intake (DEI) that expressed as (Mcal/h/day, kcal/kgW 0.75 , and Mcal/100 kg LBW). Inclusion MSK in sheep ration insignificantly (P > 0.05) increased drinking water by 20% and 6.89% for experimental groups fed TMR 2 and TMR 3 , respectively, compared to the control one (TMR 1). Incorporation MSK in the rations significantly (P < 0.05) increased insensible losses of water. Dietary treatments significantly (P < 0.05) increased nutrient digestibility coefficients of DM, organic matter (OM), CP, CF, and NFE. Meanwhile, it significantly (P < 0.05) decreased EE digestibility. On the other hand, both values of total digestible nutrient (TDN) and digestible crude protein (DCP) were significantly (P < 0.005) improved. Nitrogen retention (NR) (NR % of nitrogen intake (NI) and NR % of digested nitrogen (DN)) values were significantly (P < 0.05) increased with increasing level of MSK in the sheep ration. Inclusion MSK significantly (P < 0.05) increased ruminal pH; however, it had no significant (P > 0.05) on both ammonia nitrogen (NH 3-N) and total volatile fatty acid (TFVA) concentrations. Sampling time at 3 h post feeding significantly (P < 0.05) decreased ruminal pH in comparison with before and 6 h post feeding; meanwhile, sampling time had no significant effect (P > 0.05) on NH 3-N conc...
ighteen growing Ossimi lambs (28.92 kg average live body weight and 6-7 months old) were used to evaluate incorporating thyme essential oil (TEO) in ration on nutrients digestibility and growth performance. In growth trial lasted 90 days followed by digestibility trial for 14 days, the lambs were randomly divided according to their live body weight into three feeding groups (6 each).Total mixed ration consisted of 60% concentrate: 40% roughage was offered to lambs in all groups to cover its total requirements. Whereas, there was no TEO in the control feeding group, R1, while R2 and R3 were supplemented with 0.1 and 0.2% TEO from DM intake, respectively. Data of nutrients digestibility indicated that incorporating TEO in both of R2 and R3 significantly (P<0.05) increased digestibility of DM, OM, CP, EE and NFE. While, EE digestibility was only significantly (P<0.05) increased in R3 compared with R1. The same trend was observed for nutritive value either as TDN or DCP, whereas it was significantly (P<0.05) improved with R2 and R3 compared with R1.There were no adverse effects for thyme oil supplementation on rumen pH, but significant (P<0.05) decreased rumen ammonia concentration and increased the rumen volatile fatty acids compared with control group. As a result of this improvement in nutritive value, the highest significant (P<0.05) body weight gains were recorded with R3 (200 g/h/d) followed by R2 (187 g/h/d) compared to 160 g/h/d for R1. So, it can be concluded that incorporating thyme essential oil in growing lambs ration by either 0.1 or 0.2% from DM intake improved both of nutrients digestibility and growth performance.
SUMMMARYighteen growing Ossimi lambs (28.92 kg average live body weight and 6-7 months old) were used to evaluate incorporating thyme essential oil (TEO) in ration on nutrients digestibility and growth performance. In growth trial lasted 90 days followed by digestibility trial for 14 days, the lambs were randomly divided according to their live body weight into three feeding groups (6 each).Total mixed ration consisted of 60% concentrate: 40% roughage was offered to lambs in all groups to cover its total requirements. Whereas, there was no TEO in the control feeding group, R1, while R2 and R3 were supplemented with 0.1 and 0.2 TEO from DM intake, respectively. Data of nutrients digestibility indicated that incorporating TEO in both of R2 and R3 significantly (P<0.05) increased digestibility of DM, OM, CP, EE and NFE. While, EE digestibility was only significantly (P<0.05) increased in R3 compared with R1. The same trend was observed for nutritive value either as TDN or DCP, whereas it was significantly (P<0.05) improved with R2 and R3 compared with R1.There were no adverse effects for thyme oil supplementation on rumen pH, but significant (P<0.05) decreased rumen ammonia concentration and increased the rumen volatile fatty acids compared with control group. As a result of this improvement in nutritive value, the highest body weight gains were recorded with R2 and R3 (187 and 200 g/h/d) compared to 160 g/h/d. for R1. So, it can be concluded that incorporating thyme essential oil in growing lambs ration by either 0.1 or 0.2% from DM intake improved both of nutrients digestibility and growth performance.
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