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Feeding Agroindustrial Byproducts to Light Lambs: Influence on Growth Performance, Diet Digestibility, Nitrogen Balance, Ruminal Fermentation, and Plasma Metabolites

Authors :
Trinidad de Evan
Almudena Cabezas
Jesús de la Fuente
María Dolores Carro
Source :
Animals, Vol 10, Iss 4, p 600 (2020)
Publication Year :
2020
Publisher :
MDPI AG, 2020.

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of replacing cereals and protein concentrates in a high-cereal concentrate (control) for light lambs with corn distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS; 18%), dried citrus pulp (DCP; 18%), and exhausted olive cake (EOC; 8%) in a byproduct (BYP) concentrate on growth performance, digestibility, ruminal fermentation, and plasma metabolites. Two homogeneous groups of Lacaune lambs (13.8 kg ± 0.25 kg) were fed one of each concentrates and barley straw ad libitum until reaching about 26 kg body weight. There were no differences between groups on feed intake, average daily gain, or feed conversion ratio, but the control diet had greater (p < 0.001) dry matter digestibility. Diet had no effect on post-mortem ruminal pH and total volatile fatty acid concentrations and profile, but NH3-N concentrations were lower (p = 0.003) for the BYP-fed group compared with the control one. However, plasma concentrations of amino acids, total proteins, urea, and hepatic enzymes were not affected by the diet. In conclusion, 44% of feed ingredients in the concentrate for light lambs can be replaced with a mixture of corn DDGS, DCP, and EOC without negatively affecting growing performance and animal health.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
20762615
Volume :
10
Issue :
4
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Animals
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.4f6f98dd2c4e8bb5de382f1b07cc9e
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10040600