Effects of Energy Sources Supplement for Camels Fed Berseem Hay On: 1. Feed Intake, Nutrients Digestibility and Concentration of Some Blood Constituents.

Abstract

An experiment was planned and conducted in order to study the effect of barley grains and date stones as energy-source supplements with Berseem hay on the voluntary feed intake and digestibility as well as concentration of some blood components of camels. Three one humped female camels (avg. BW 467 kg) were used in 3 x 3 Latin Square design. Three diets (H, B and BD) were tested throughout the whole experiment. The first diet H; sole Berseem hay was offered ad lib. B; camels were given a calculated amount of barley to provide supplementation as 100 percent of maintenance energy requirements (Farid et al., 1990) and BD; supplementation was 50 percent from each barley and crushed date stones. Both of camel groups B and BD were given Berseem hay ad lib. The results showed that, average body weight changes (ABWC) were almost comparable for the camels fed B and their pair-fed mates offered BD diets (311 vs. 263 g/h/d, respectively) and were higher (P< 0.05) than camels fed diet H (211 g/h/d). Daily total dry matter intake averaged 5.8, 8.56 and 7.49 kg for the three treatments, respectively. Supplementation with high dietary energy sources was significantly (P < 0.05) increased digestibility of DM, OM, EE and NFE but it had no effect on CP and CF digestibility. Total digestible nutrients (TDN %) was significantly (P<0.05) higher for diets BD and B (70.72 vs. 70.02%, respectively) than for diet H (57.86%). But the opposite trend was found for digestible protein percentage. The highest values of nitrogen balance (NB) were obtained when barley grains (as a readily fermentable carbohydrate) represented 50% of the total energy supplement (diet BD) followed by diet B and being low in diet H, the values were 10.0, 10.95 and 7.5 g/d, respectively. Types of energy supplement did not show significant (P< 0.05) effect on all studied blood parameters except glucose and total lipids concentrations.

Modulation of rumen bacterial community and feed utilization in camel and sheep using combined supplementation of live yeast and microalgae

“…The feed intake of camels and sheep in this study was improved by YA supplementation and was in the range obtained by previous studies on camels and sheep 4 , 15 , 49 (Table 2 ). The improvement in the feed intake was accompanied by improvement in the rumen disappearance of DM, CP, and NDF of barley straw at 48 h, which is similar to other studies on live yeast and algae 23 , 50 – 54 .…”

“…Barley is grown in a wide range of adverse environmental conditions, including drought and soil salinity; thus, it is considered the main crop in desert regions 3 . Barley provides large quantities of lignocellulosic straw that could be used in the feeding of desert ruminants 4 , 5 . However, higher lignocellulose represents a barrier towards the efficient microbial fermentation of barley in the animal rumen 6 .…”