REPLACEMENT CORN SILAGE BY ORANGE WASTE SILAGE IN BARKI RAM LAMBS RATIONS

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Animal Production Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Dokki, Giza, Egypt.

2 The Arab Center for the Studies of Arid Zones and Dry Lands, ACSAD, Damascus, Syria.

Abstract

 The present work was conducted to study the effect of replacement corn silage (CS) by orange waste silage (OR) improved the performance of Barki lambs using one of the following rations: R1: 50%  concentrate feed mixture (CFM) + 40%  corn silage (CS) + 10% rice straw (RS) (control). R2: 50% CFM + 20% CS + 20% orange waste silage (OS) + 10% RS and R3: 50% CFM + 40% OS + 10% RS. Two experimental trials were conducted: Results showed the silages had good smell and were free from any signs of molds in all groups. Digestibility trial was conducted using nine mature local Barki breed rams were divided in three groups (3 animals each) weighting with average body weight 57 kg ± 1.5 kg and 3 years old. R3 recorded (P<0.05) the highest digestibility coefficients for all nutrients and nutritive value than others and the results showed a significant improvement (P<0.05) in digestibility coefficients of NDF, ADF and cellulose in R3 than others. Results showed insignificant differences (P>0.05) among the three tested groups in all blood parameters. Eighteen Barki lambs with average body weight 21.00 ± 0.20 kg/head were used. Lambs were divided into three groups (6 animals each) and fed the three respective rations with the same regime of feeding the experimental lasted for month. R3 recorded the highest value of average daily gain compared with R2 and R1. Also, R3 recorded the best value of feed conversion (6.24) followed by the R2 (6.52) than the control (7.03). It was concluded that corn silage by orange waste silage to rations of growing Barki lambs could improve their performance especially replacement of 100% corn silage by orange waste silage (R3). 

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