Utilization of blue panic ( Panicum antidotale ) as an alternative feed resource for feeding Barky sheep in arid regions
- PDF / 309,010 Bytes
- 10 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 100 Downloads / 140 Views
REGULAR ARTICLES
Utilization of blue panic (Panicum antidotale) as an alternative feed resource for feeding Barky sheep in arid regions S. M. A. Sallam 1 & M. M. H. Khalil 2 & M. F. A. Attia 3 & H. M. El-Zaiat 1 & M. G. Abdellattif 1 & H. M. Abo-Zeid 1 & Moustafa M. Zeitoun 1,4 Received: 21 February 2019 / Revised: 8 May 2019 / Accepted: 30 May 2019 # Springer Nature B.V. 2019
Abstract This study aimed at elucidating effects of replacing sorghum with blue panic (BP) on total dry matter intake (TDMI), average daily gain (ADG), feed conversion ratio (FCR), apparent nutrient digestibility, blood biochemical constituents, rumen fermentation patterns and economic feasibility of Barky male lambs. Fifteen lambs (av. BW, 22.5 ± 1.6 kg) were randomly allotted into 3 treatments (n = 5/group). Control lambs were given a diet of concentrate mixture (CM) plus sorghum (S), BP50% lambs were given a diet of CM plus (S: PB 1:1) and BP100% lambs were given CM plus PB. The experiment lasted for 54 days. At the last week of the experiment, the apparent nutrient digestibility coefficients were determined using lignin contents of feeds and faeces as an internal marker. Blood samples were collected at weeks 3, 5 and 7 to determine serum biochemical parameters. Results showed that TDMI significantly (P < 0.05) influenced by diet, whereas ADG was not affected. Mean FCR values were 5.67, 5.46 and 5.86 for control, BP50% and BP100%, respectively. Neither nutrients digestibility nor ruminal fermentation parameters were affected (P > 0.05) by total replacement of sorghum with BP. Likewise, none of the serum biochemical constituents were different in BP than in control lambs. This study concluded that BP grass would be considered as one of the promising tropical green forages in the arid regions as an alternative feedstuff in case of shortage of green fodders. Keywords Blue panic . Digestibility . Growth performance . Blood metabolites
Introduction Livestock is one of the basic pillars of agriculture as an important source of national income for most of developing countries. Livestock production accounts for 40% of the gross value of the global agricultural production (FAO 2017), and this figure is likely to go up, as the demand for livestock products is increasing rapidly with the increase in income * Moustafa M. Zeitoun [email protected] 1
Department of Animal and Fish Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt
2
Faculty of Desert and Environmental Agriculture, Matruh University, Marsa Matrouh 51511, Matrouh, Egypt
3
Agricultural Research Center, Animal Production Research Institute, Dokki, Giza, Egypt
4
Department of Animal Production and Breeding, College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Qassim University, Buraydah, Qassim, Saudi Arabia
and urbanization. Besides the potential of livestock to raise income and improve human nutrition, they have an important integrative function in the farming system. The tropical regions of the world vastly differ in climate, natural resources and socio-ec
Data Loading...
