TRADITIONAL VERSUS HIGH INPUT FEEDING SYSTEM: IMPACT ON NUTRIENTS INTAKE, BLOOD DYNAMICS, HORMONAL PROFILE, WEIGHT GAIN AND ECONOMICS IN GROWING LAMBS | ||||
| Egyptian Journal of Sheep and Goats Sciences | ||||
| Article 13, Volume 5, Issue 1, April 2010, Page 2-20 PDF (178.64 K) | ||||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/ejsgs.2010.27362 | ||||
 View on SCiNiTO | ||||
| Authors | ||||
| Muhammad Sarwar; Nasir Mukhtar; Muhammad Aasif Shahzad; Mahr- un- Nisa | ||||
| Institute of Animal Nutrition and Feed Technology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan. | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| ABSTRACT The study was planned to compare the influence of high and low input feeding systems on nutrients ingestion, digestibilities, nitrogen retention (NR), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), metabolic hormones, liver enzymes and economics of weight gain in growing male lohi lambs. Eighty lambs, 3 months of age, were randomly divided into ten groups with eight animals in each. Ten diets were formulated. The diet F only contained barseem fodder (hay) while nine isocaloric diets with three levels of crude protein (CP) i.e. low protein (LP, 18%CP), medium protein (MP, 22%CP) and high protein (HP, 26%CP) with ionophores (LPI, MPI and HPI) and probiotics (LPP, MPP and HPP) were formulated. Inclusion rate of ionophores and probiotics in diets was 20ppm and 0.1% of ration, respectively. The LP, MP and HP diets were grouped as concentrate (C) diets. These CP diets when supplemented with ionophores and probiotics were grouped as CI and CP diets. Lambs fed C, CI, CP diets consumed higher feed than those fed F diet. A linear and quadric increase (p<0.05) in nutrients intake was observed in lambs fed C, CI and CP diets with increasing dietary CP level. Similar trend was noticed for neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) intakes (p<0.05). However, ionophores and probiotics supplementation did not affect feed consumption in lambs fed C, CI and CP diets. Dry matter digestibility and nitrogen retention was higher (p<0.05) in lambs fed C, CI and CP diets than those fed F diet. The blood urea nitrogen (BUN) increased linearly with increasing dietary CP in the concentrate diets. However, ionophores and probiotics supplementation did not affect BUN (p<0.05). Serum creatinine was not affected by ionophores or probiotics, however, increased linearly with increasing dietary CP in the concentrate diets. Cholesterol, triglyceride, LDL and HDL were higher (p<0.05) in lambs fed concentrates than those fed fodder only. Serum calcium, P and Cl were higher (p<0.05) and blood pH was lower (p>0.05) in lambs fed concentrate diets than those fed fodder only. A gradual increase in dietary crude protein concentration of C, CI and CP diets increased triiodothrionine (T3), thyroxin (T4) and testosterone in lambs compared to those fed on fodder. Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) were higher (P<0.05) in lambs fed concentrates than those fed fodder only. A linear increase was observed in blood ALT with increasing CP levels in concentrate diets. Economic appraisal indicated that feed to gain ratio was lower in lambs fed concentrate diets than those fed diets containing fodder only. Total feed cost of lambs fed concentrate diets was higher (p <0.05) than those fed fodder only. However, cost to produce one kg live weight of lambs fed concentrates were lower (p >0.05) than those fed diets containing fodder only reflecting that high concentrate portion in feed reduced the cost of production in growing lambs. | ||||
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