This study was conducted to compare effects of 3 physical forms of feed including mash (diet 1), pellet (diet 2) and complete feed block (CFB; diet 3) on digestion, fermentation and performance of lambs. Twenty-one lambs with an initial average body weight of 26 ± 2.5 kg and 6 ± 1.5 months of age were assigned through a completely randomized design to 3 treatments and 7 replicates. The experimental treatments had the same formulation. The results of present experiment showed that CFB significantly increased feed intake and nutrient digestibility (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference among the diets for rumen fluid pH, blood glucose, concentration of volatile fatty acids (P > 0.05), except acetic acid (P < 0.05). The rumen ammonia nitrogen (NH3—N), mixed rumen protozoa population (RPP), Entodiniums spp., Epidiniums spp., blood urea nitrogen (BUN) concentration, rumination time adjusted for dry matter (DM), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF) intake, and total body weight gain of lambs in CFB diet were the highest among all diets (P < 0.05). Feed conversion ratio at days 31 to 45 and whole experimental period were better in CFB than in other diets (P < 0.05). Overall, according to the findings of the present study, among 3 physical forms of the diets, CFB had the best efficiency due to improvement of nutrient digestibility, rumen fermentation and performance of lambs. Therefore, the CFB diet offers the best result in lambs compared with mash and pellet diets.

The termite gut contains different kinds of lignin and lignocellulose degrading microbes. This study was conducted to isolate and identify termite gut symbiotic bacteria with lignocellulose-degrading potential, and evaluate their effects on the chemical composition and in vitro digestibility of wheat straw and date leaves. Termite gut contents were extracted and cultured in 9 different culture media containing lignin and lignocellulosic materials that had been prepared from water-extracted sawdust and wheat straw. Three superior bacteria capable of growing on all media, and with higher lignin peroxidase activity, were selected and subjected to molecular identification.Following this, wheat straw and date leaves were incubated with the isolated bacteria in liquid medium for 6 weeks. 16S rRNA sequence analysis showed that these isolates possessed 97, 99 and 97% similarity with Bacillus licheniformis, Ochrobactrum intermedium and Microbacterium paludicola, respectively. The highest (P<0.05) dry matter (DM) loss in wheat straw and date leaves was observed following treatment with B. licheniformis. In the case of wheat straw, the organic matter (OM) and neutral detergent fibre (NDF), and for date leaves OM, NDF and acid detergent lignin (ADL) contents were not influenced by the treatments (P>0.05). The greatest and lowest (P<0.05) ADF content of wheat straw was observed as a result of treatment with B. licheniformis and O. intermedium, respectively. However, bacterial treatments decreased (P<0.05) ADF content of date leaves when compared to the control. Acid detergent lignin content of wheat straw was decreased (P<0.05) by bacterial treatments in comparisons to the control. For wheat straw, the highest and lowest (P<0.05) value of crude protein (CP) was observed in the case of M. paludicola and O. intermedium treatments, respectively. For date leaves, the CP content of the control treatment was 3 highest (P<0.05) among treatments. For wheat straw, bacterial treatments enhanced (P<0.05) DM, OM and ADF digestibility when compared to the control. However, highest and lowest (P<0.05) CP digestibility was observed using O. intermedium and M. paludicola, respectively. For date leaves, treatment with B. licheniformis significantly increased (P<0.05) digestibility of DM, OM and NDF when compared to the others.However, CP and ADF digestibility was not different (P>0.05) between experimental groups. Overall, the results of this study showed that the isolated bacteria partially changed the chemical composition of wheat straw and date leaves while, they improved digestibility of nutrients. These bacteria are suitable candidates for increasing nutritive value of by-products for ruminants.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of supplementing essential fatty acids (FA), during late gestation and the preweaning and early weaning periods on passive immunity, growth, health, rumen fermentation parameters, blood metabolites and behaviour of dairy calves. During the last 3 weeks of pregnancy, cattle (n 120), within parity, were randomly assigned to one of three diets with different fat supplements: (a) no supplemental fat (CON), (b) supplement rich in linoleic acid (CSO), or (c) supplement rich in EPA and DHA (CFO). Eighty-four newborn Holstein calves were randomly assigned, within the prepartum diets, to one of two calf starters: no fat supplement (FC-0) or 2 % Ca-salt of unsaturated FA (FC-2). Overall, the interaction between dam diets and calf starters did not affect calf performance or any other parameter measured. Calves born from dams fed fat (CSO or CFO) performed better than calves born from dams fed CON. Namely, calves born from dams fed fat had greater plasma concentrations of IgG (P < 0·01), better apparent efficiency of IgG absorption (P < 0·01) and average daily gain (ADG, 597 v. 558 g/d; P = 0·02), and lower rectal temperature (RT; P < 0·01). Calves fed a calf starter rich in unsaturated FA (FC-2) had greater (P ≤ 0·01) ADG, skeletal growth, feed efficiency, and weaning weight compared with FC-0-fed calves. Furthermore, calves fed FC-2 had lower RT during the pre- and post-weaning periods (P ≤ 0·04) and fewer days with diarrhoea (P < 0·001) compared with calves fed CF-0. Time spent eating, ruminating, standing, lying, and on non-nutritive oral behaviour did not differ by treatment. Similarly, treatments did not affect ruminal fermentation parameters. At 28 and 77 d of age, calves fed CF-2 had higher plasma concentrations of albumin and cholesterol (P ≤ 0·02) and lower urea N compared with calves fed CF-0. Plasma concentrations of alkaline phosphatase were higher in calves fed CF-2 compared with those fed CF-0, when they were 77 d old. These findings support feeding moderate amounts of long-chain PUFA during late uterine life or during the preweaning period have beneficial effects on calf metabolism, growth, and health performance.

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Arabi lambs (n =28; body weight = 24 ± 3.7 kg; average age = 120 ± 8 days) were used to investigate the effect of microbial additives on growth performance, microbial protein synthesis and rumen microbial population of fattening lamb based on completely randomized design. Four treatments were studied; (1) control (without additive; CON); (2) Lactobacillus fermentum and L. plantarum (FP); (3) Saccharomyces cerevisiae (SC) plus FP (SCFP) and (8) Megasphaera elsdenii plus SCFP (MSCFP). Lambs were inoculated before morning feeding (daily oral dosed) with a 50 mL microbial suspension as follow: FP, 50 mL bacterial suspension containing 4.5 × 10 8 colony-forming unit per day (cfu/day) of L. plantarum and L. fermentum (in ratio 50:50)); SCFP, 50 mL microbial suspension containing 4.5 × 10 8 cfu/day FP and 1.4 × 10 10 cfu/day SC; MSCFP, 50 mL microbial suspension containing 4.5 × 10 8 cfu/day Me, 4.5 × 10 8 cfu/day FP and 1.4 × 10 10 cfu/day SC. Feed intake and body weight of lambs were not affected by microbial additives. Average daily gain and feed efficiency were increased on day 0-21. The highest concentration of uric acid, total excreted purine derivatives (PD), microbial N, microbial CP and metabolizable protein were in MSCFP lambs. The ruminal population of Ruminococcus albus and Ruminococcus flavefaciens was higher in MSCFP and SCFP than CON and FP lambs. The highest and the lowest abundance of M. elsdenii and methanogen respectively was observed in lambs fed on microbial additives. The tendency to improve growth performance versus CON may be due to improvements in microbial protein synthesis and microbial populations, especially fiber-degrading bacteria. The decrease in the population of methanogens as a result of the use of microbial additives is another positive result.

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