IMPACT OF USING DIFFERENT LEVELS OF DRIED POMEGRANATE BY- PROUDUCTSAS FEED ADDITIVES ON PERFORMANCE OF GROWING BARKI LAMBS

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Egypt

Abstract

The present study was conducted to investigate the impact of adding different levels of dried Pomegranate by-products (DPB):10g/head /day (R2), 20g/head /day (R3), 30g/head /day (R4),versus an supplemented ration (R1) control ration which consists of 70% concentrate and 30% alfalfa hay without any additives) on growth performance, blood parameters , feed efficiency and economical efficiency of  twenty growing Barki lambs (averaged 5-6months old and weighed on average 28kg ) in the  growth trial(120 days ) . Twelve adult rams (weighed 42 kg) were used in digestion trials to estimate nutritive values, digestion coefficient, some rumen parameters. The Results could be summarized as follows: Pomegranate by-products contained numerous active metabolites such linalool, myrcene, menthol and thymol. The DPP contained 380, 149, 71, 172 and 65 mg/100 g of Ca, P, Na, K, and Mg, respectively. Also, it contained Se, Fe, and Zn respectively. Moreover, it contained vitamin C; vitamin E, vitamin A, vitamin B 1 and vitamin B2. Adding different levels of dried Pomegranate by-products (DPB):10g/head /day ( R2), 20g/head /day  ( R3), 30g/head /day  ( R4), improved all nutrients digestibility (DM, OM, CP, CF, EE and NFE) and nutritive values as TDN, DCP compared with control ration. The highest significant (P<0.05) values were found with lambs fed ration containing 20 g/ head/day of DPB (R3) followed by 10 g/ head/day of  DPB (R2) compared to the control group. Also, adding different levels of dried Pomegranate by-products (DPB) improved the blood parameters .Pomegranate by-products decreased cholesterol level in plasma, with the highest effect for R3 followed by R2 and R4 compared to the control group. Moreover, Pomegranate by-products significantly (P<0.05) decreased total lipid and increased total plasma protein and globulin comparing with the control group. Additionally, Pomegranate by-products significantly (P<0.05) improved the daily gain by175.8 g , 175 g ,158.3g for R2, R3, R4, respectively compared to the control group by 150g .Also, Pomegranate by-products significantly (Pexhibited positive effect on productive performance of Barki lambs, weight gain, feed efficiency and economic efficiency, and decrease plasma cholesterol and total lipids.

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