Vet World Vol.11 October-2018 Article-6
Research Article
Veterinary World, 11(10): 1397-1403
https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2018.1397-1403
Effects of incorporating oasis by-products on fattening performance and carcass characteristics of Ouled Djellal lamb
2. Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Science of Nature and Life, University of M'sila, M'Sila, Algeria.
3. Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Science of Nature and Life, University of Ghardaia, Ghardaia, Algeria.
4. Joint Research Unit "Market, Organization, Institution", Actors Strategies, University Supagro of Montpellier, Montpellier, France.
5. Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Science of Nature and Life, University of Setif, Setif, Algeria.
Background and Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the effects of incorporating three local oasis by-products [cull dates (CDs), date pedicels (DPs) treated with urea, and juice from rumen content] into the food ration of Ouled Djellal lambs on fattening performance and carcass characteristics.
Materials and Methods: The experiment was carried out over 105 days, with an adaptation period of 15 days, on four groups each consisting of 10 male Ouled Djellal lambs aged 7-8 months with an average live body weight of 32±1.5 kg, randomly distributed, and raised in tie stalls. The basic rations were formulated at a rate of 0% (control), 50%, 80%, and 100% substitution of barley straw by DPs treated with urea. The additional rations intended for the experimental groups consisted of 100% substitution of corn by CDs. Before distributed, they were sprayed with rumen content extract (RCE) at a rate of 250 ml/kg.
Results: The 100% group displayed a highly significant difference compared to the other groups, with a live body weight of 43 kg (p<0.05), an average daily gain of 191 g, and feed efficiency of 5.08. These three parameters developed in proportion to the rates of incorporation of CDs and pedicels treated with urea. The carcass yield of the 100% group (48.7%) is significantly higher than the other groups while the thickness of back fat is significantly lower. Economically speaking, the profit margin of the 100% group is 30.93 Algerian dinars (DZD) per day per animal.
Conclusion: The use of by-products of the date palm (CDs and pedicels) combined with RCE in animal feed with a view to fattening sheep, in particular in oasis zones, represents an alternative in enhancing growth performances and carcass characteristics and offers a relatively cheap prospect for the availability of red meat for populations with low purchasing power. Keywords: cull dates, date pedicels, extract of rumen content, sheep fattening.
Keywords: cull dates, date pedicels, extract of rumen content, sheep fattening.
How to cite this article: Baa A, Arbouche F, Arbouche R, Montaigne E, Arbouche Y, Arbouche HS (2018) Effects of incorporating oasis by-products on fattening performance and carcass characteristics of Ouled Djellal lamb, Veterinary World, 11(10): 1397-1403.
Received: 02-06-2018 Accepted: 04-09-2018 Published online: 09-10-2018
Corresponding author: Fodil Arbouche E-mail: arbouchefodil@yahoo.fr
DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2018.1397-1403
Copyright: Baa, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.