Growth Performance, Eating Behavior, Digestibility, Blood Metabolites, and Carcass Traits in Growing-Finishing Fat-Tailed Lambs Fed Different Levels of Dietary Neutral Detergent Fiber with High Rumen Undegradable Protein

Hamidreza Mirzaei-Alamouti, Azam Beiranvand, Arman Abdollahi, Hamid Amanlou, Amlan Kumar Patra and Jörg R. Aschenbach
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Hamidreza Mirzaei-Alamouti: Department of Animal Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zanjan, Zanjan 45371-38791, Iran
Azam Beiranvand: Department of Animal Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zanjan, Zanjan 45371-38791, Iran
Arman Abdollahi: Department of Animal Science, School of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Shiraz 71441-65186, Iran
Hamid Amanlou: Department of Animal Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zanjan, Zanjan 45371-38791, Iran
Amlan Kumar Patra: Department of Animal Nutrition, West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences, Belgachia, Kolkata 700037, India
Jörg R. Aschenbach: Institute of Veterinary Physiology, Freie Universität Berlin, 14163 Berlin, Germany

Agriculture, 2021, vol. 11, issue 11, 1-16

Abstract: This study was conducted to investigate the effect of decreasing concentrations of dietary neutral detergent fiber (NDF) at high rumen undegradable protein (RUP) on performance, digestibility, chewing activity, blood attributes, and carcass characteristics in 32 weaned male Afshari lambs (90 days of age; 26 kg initial body weight; BW). Dietary metabolic energy (ME) was increased from 10.6–11.5 and 11.8 MJ/kg dry matter (DM) by replacing alfalfa hay with grain to achieve NDF concentrations of 270, 245, and 220 g/kg DM, respectively, at 66.6 g/kg DM of RUP. The control (CON) diet contained 10.9 MJ/kg ME, 270 g/kg NDF and 59.6 g/kg RUP on DM basis. Rations containedsimilar concentrations of crude protein (CP, 160 g/kg DM). Lambs were slaughtered after a 56-d feeding period. The increase in dietary RUP had no effect on BW and average daily gain (ADG) but tended to decrease apparent digestibility of CP and DM, significantlydecreasedplasma urea concentration, and increased carcass CP content. Other body or carcass characteristics were unchanged. Decreasing dietary fiber at high RUP did not result in adverse effects on BW, ADG, body length, withers height, apparent digestibility of DM and CP, and BFT, but decreased DM intake (1539 vs. 1706 g/d) and feed conversion ratio (FCR; 4.33 vs. 5.39) compared with CON. Gradual reduction in NDF and physically effective NDF did not affecteating, ruminating or chewing times. Plasma glucose concentration was greater for NDF220 than for the three other treatments ( p = 0.015).Slaughtering traits were not affected by dietary treatment except for hot carcass weight, which increased in NDF220 and NDF245 compared with NDF270 ( p = 0.021). The concentration of meat CP increased in NDF270 versus CON (167 vs. 152 g/kg). Quadratic effects occurred for meat ether extract concentration (highest in NDF220) and fat-tail weight (highest in NDF245). In conclusion, the results showed that increasing the proportion of RUP within dietary CP improves carcass protein accretion. Decreasing dietary NDF to 220 g/kg DM at high RUP does not impair eating behavior and improves FCR in 3-month-old fat-tailed lambs.

Keywords: dietary fiber; dietary protein; eating behavior; carcass; lamb (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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