EFFECT OF DIRECT-FED MICROBIAL (DFM) ® SUPPLEMENTS ON GENERAL PERFORMANCE OF NEWBORN AWASSI LAMBS | ||||
| Egyptian Journal of Sheep and Goats Sciences | ||||
| Article 21, Volume 5, Issue 1, April 2010, Page 1-18 PDF (189.15 K) | ||||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/ejsgs.2010.27370 | ||||
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| Author | ||||
| Mutassim Mohamed Abdelrahman | ||||
| Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Animal Production, Mu'tah University, Mu‘tah, Jordan. | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| ABSTRACT Accelerating the onset of weaning of pre-ruminant can be achieved by enhancing the development of rumen microorganisms using direct fed microbial (DFM). The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of feeding DFM to newborn Awassi lambs on their performance at different weaning ages (30, 45 and 60 days old). Forty eight Awassi lambs divided randomly into six groups where each group assigned to one of the following treatments: control (C) (weaning at 60 days old); T1, 2 doses DFM (weaning at 30 days old); T2, 2 doses DFM (weaning at 45 days old ); T3, 2 doses DFM (weaning at 60 days old); T4, (weaned at 30 days old) and T5, (weaned at 45 days old). Feed intake, body weight, blood samples, carcass weights and tissues samples and weight were taken and recorded. Blood samples and tissues were analyzed for mineral concentrations (Cu, Zn, Fe, Mg, Mn and Co) by using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. A significant higher total weight gain were reported for lambs of T2 (2 doses DFM-45 days weaning age) followed by the control, T1, T3, T4 and T5, respectively, but no significant differences among all groups was noticed in term of total feed conversion. The highest dressing percentage was found for lambs of the control group followed by T1, T2 and T3 and the lowest for lambs from T4 and T5. Furthermore, no significant effect for treatments on all tissues percentages except kidney which showed significantly lower weights for all treated groups compared with the control. The rumen and reticulum weights were higher for all treated groups compared with control except lambs of T3. A significant effect of treatment, time and treatment*time were detected for blood serum metabolites and minerals except for Copper and Iron. Moreover, no significant effect for treatments on mineral concentrations in kidney, liver and meat tissues. In conclusion, using direct fed microbial (DFM) accelerate the early weaning of newborn lambs (30 and 45 days old) by enhancing rumen microorganisms development especially for the 45 days weaning age without any negative effect on their growth and performance compared with weaning at 60 days old. | ||||
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