This study was conducted to investigate the effect of feeding dry rumen content (DRC) at different levels on nutrient intake, digestibility and growth performance of Awassi lambs. Twelve Awassi lambs (22.27±0.25 kg body weight and 4 months old) were randomly allotted into four diets for 65 days. The DRC was included in the diets at 0 % (DRC0), 10% (DRC10), 20% (DRC20), 30% (DRC30) to replace parts of the barley grain and soybean meal in the concentrate diet. On the day 60 of the experimental period, all lambs were fitted with fecal collection bags to evaluate the nutrient digestibility. Intake of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM) and Metabolizable energy (ME) were not affected (P>0.05) in lambs fed DRC10 and DRC20 diets compared to those fed DRC0 (control) diet but decreased (P<0.05) in lambs fed DRC30 diet. Intake of CP (g/day) was higher (P<0.05) in lambs fed DRC10 and DRC20 diet than those fed DRC30 diet, but not significant difference (P>0.05) than those fed control one (DRC0) while, intake of CP (g/kg W0.75) did not differ (P>0.05) among diets. Intakes of neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) were highest (P<0.01) for lambs fed the DRC30 diet followed by the DRC20 and DRC10 than those fed DRC0. No significant different in DM, OM, CP, NDF and ADF digestibility. Total gain and average daily gain (ADG) in lambs fed DRC10 and DRC 20 diets were not significant (P>0.05) different as compared with lambs fed DRC0 (control) diet but they were decreased (P<0.05) when lambs fed DRC30 diet. Lambs fedDRC10 diet was higher(P<0.05) in feed efficiency than those fed DRC30, but no significant (P>0.05) difference than those fed DRC0 and DRC20 diets. It could be concluded that feeding Awassi lambs diets containing DRC up to 10% improved growth performance without any adverse effect on nutrient digestibility or animal health.
أنمار عبد الغني مجيد الوزير | Anmar Abdulghani Majeed Al-Wazeer | 8902