Study of different ratios effect of forage to concentrate on performance and carcass traits of Zel fattening lambs

Document Type : Full Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Animal Science, Qaemshahr branch, Islamic Azad University

2 Department of Animal Science, Qaemshahr branch, Islamic Azad University, Qaemshahr, Iran

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the most effective ratio of forage to concentrate on feed intake, body weight, feed conversion ratio, and quality and quantity of carcasses of male Zel fattening lambs. The present study was performed using 20 male Zel lambs aged 16 weeks with an average weight of 27.8 kg for 90 days in a completely randomized design with four treatments and five repeats. Experimental treatments included different ratios of forage to concentrate at 20:80, 30:70, 40:60, and 50:50. The research data were analyzed by LSmeans procedure and regression in SAS software. Effect of different ratios of forage to concentrate on all yield traits (P <0.01), slaughter weight (P <0.05), weight gain during feeding period (P <0.05), daily weight gain (P <0.05), feed intake (P <0.01), feed conversion ratio (P <0.01), the weight of gastrointestinal contents (P <0.05), hot and cold carcass weight (P <0.05), carcass percentage (P <0.05) and thickness Backfat was significant (P <0.05). The change in the mentioned traits was observed linearly, increasing the concentration ratio to forage (P <0.01). As the percentage of concentrate in the feed increases feed intake increases. Due to the higher energy and nutrient content of concentrate than forage, lambs that consumed more concentrate had higher body weight and slaughter weight. Based on the results for optimal performance in fattening lambs, a ration with a ratio of forage to concentrate equal to (50:50) is recommended.

Keywords


1. AFRC. 1992. Technical Committee on Responses to Nutrients. Report No. 9. Nutritive requirements of ruminant animal: protein. Nutrition Abstracts and Reviews Series B, 62 (12), pp. 787-835.
2- Borton R. J., Loerch S. C., McClure K. E. and Wulf D. M. 2005. Comparison of characteristics of lambs fed concentrate or grazed on ryegrass to traditional or heavy slaughter weights. I. Production, carcass, and organoleptic characteristics. Journal of Animal Science, 83: 679–685.
3- Fimbres H., Hernandez-Vidal G., Picon-Rubio J. F., Kawas J. R. and Lu C. D. 2002. Productive performance and carcass characteristics of lambs fed finishing ration containing various forage levels. Small Ruminant Research, 43: 283–288.
4- Glimp H. A., Hart S. P. and Von-Tungeln D. 1989. Effect of altering nutrient density (concentrate to roughage ratio) and restricting energy intake on rate efficiency and composition of growing lambs. Journal of Animal Science, 67: 865–871. 
5- Hatfield P. G., Hopkins J. A., Pritchard G. T. and Hunt C. W. 1997. The effects of amounts of whole barley, barley bulk density, and form of roughage on feedlot lamb performance, carcass characteristics, and digesta kinetics. Journal of Animal Science, 75: 3353–3366.
6- Hosseini S. M.,  Ghoorchi T.,  Torbatinejad N. M. and Sameie R. 2019. Effect of replacing different levels of full fat soybean with soybean meal on carcass characteristics, lipid oxidation and meat quality of Zel fattening lambs. Animal Production Research, 8(4) :19-28.
7. Kashan N. E. J., Manafi Azar G. H., Afzalzadeh A. and Salehi A. 2005. Growth performance and carcass quality of fattening lambs from fat-tailed and tailed sheep breeds. Small Ruminant Research, 60(3): 267-271.
8- Langlie J. 2020. Influence of cattle backgrounding systems on carcass characteristics and meat quality. retrieved from the University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/217769. 
9- Lardy G. P., Ulmer D. N., Anderson V. L. and Caton J. S. 2004. Effects of increasing level of supplemental barley on forage intake, digestibility, and ruminal fermentation in steers fed medium-quality grass hay. Journal of Animal Science, 82: 3662–3668.
10- Lu C. D. and Potchoiba M. J. 1990. Feed intake and weight gain of growing goats fed diets of various energy and protein levels. Journal of Animal Science, 68: 1751–1759.
11- Mahgoub O., Lu C. D. and Early R. J. 2000. Effects of dietary energy density on feed intake, body weight gain and carcass chemical composition of Omani growing lambs. Small Ruminant Reseasrch, 37: 35–42.
12- McClure K. E., Solomon M. B., Parrett N. A. and VanKeuren E. W. 1995. Growth and tissue accretion of lambs fed concentrate in dry lot, grazed on alfalfa or ryegrass at weaning or after back grounding on ryegrass. Journal of Animal Science, 72: 3437–3444.
13- McLeod K. R. and Baldwin R. L. 2000. Effects of diet forage: concentrate ratio and metabolizable energy intake on visceral organ growth and in vitro oxidative capacity of gut tissues in sheep. Journal of Animal Science, 78: 760–770.
14- Moron-Fuenmayor O. E. and Clavero T. 1999. The effect of feeding system on carcass characteristics, non-carcass components and retail cut percentages of lambs. Small Ruminant Research, 34: 57–64.
15- Murphy T. A., Loerch S. C., McClure K. E. and Solomon M. B. 1994. Effects of grain or pasture finishing systems on carcass composition and tissue accretion rates of lambs. Journal of Animal Science, 72: 3138-3144.
16- Nie Z. N., Slocombe L., Behrendt R., Raeside M., Clark S. and Jacobs J. L. 2020. Feeding lambs proportional mixtures of lucerne (Medicago sativa) and forage brassica (Brassica napus) grown under warm and dry conditions. Animal Production Science, 60: 1670-1678.
17- Nik-Khah A. and Amanlou H. 2001. Nutrient requirement of dairy cattle. 7th ed. Zanjan University, Zanjan, Iran, 556 pp. (In Persian).
18- National Research Council (NRC). 2007. Nutrient requirements of small ruminants. National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC.
19- Pupin R. C., Leal P. V., Lima S. C., Melo G. K. A., Pott A., Araújo M. A., Barros C. S. L. and Lemos R. A. A. 2017. Enterolobium contortisiliquum is a cause of acute ruminal acidosis in sheep. Toxicon. 126: 90-95.
20- Ramos Z., De Barbieri I., van Lier E. and Montossi F. 2020. Carcass and meat quality traits of grazing lambs are affected by supplementation during early post- weaning. Small Ruminant Research, 184: 37-42.
21- SAS. 2000. Statistical Analysis Systems/SAS, STAT User's guide Statistics. Version 9.1. Cary, Institute: USA.
22- Shi H., Zhang J., Li S., Ji S., Cao Z., Zhang H. and Wang Y. 2018. Effects of a wide range of dietary forage-to-concentrate ratios on nutrient utilization and hepatic transcriptional profiles in limit-fed Holstein heifers. BMC Genomics, 19: 148-156. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-018-4529-9.
23- Singh N. P., Sankhyan S. K. and Prasad S. S. 2004. Effect of supplementary concentrate on growth and carcass characteristics in crossbred sheep of dual purpose. Indian Journal of Animal Science, 74: 878–881.