Effect of supplementing roughage diet with processed broiler litter on voluntary feed intake, microbial protein synthesis and nitrogen balance in sheep

This research was conducted to study the effect of heat-processed broiler litter (BL) in roughage based diet on the nutrients intake، microbial protein synthesis and nitrogen balance in sheep. In a completely randomized design، with four treatments (diets) and four replicates، 16 Moghani male sheep، with 63±2. 3 kg live weight، were allocated to four experimental diets including: control diet (mixture of wheat straw and alfalfa، 35:65 ratio)، and experimental diets; 1، 2 and 3 contained 80، 160 and 240 g BL (dry matter basis)، respectively. Results showed that average dry matter intake were 1200، 1506، 1735 and 1601; organic matter intake were 1082، 1350، 1541 and 1420 g/animal/d for the control and experimental diets 1، 2 and 3 respectively، that were significantly increased (P<0. 05) by inclusion of BL in the diet. The daily intake of ash free-neutral detergent fiber and crude protein intake were the lowest (respectively 624 and 123 g) for the control diet، whereas these variables were the highest (850 and 224g respectively) for the animals received 160 g/kg BL diet (P<0. 05). The total urinary purine derivatives excretion، microbial protein production and nitrogen retention were respectively 7. 10، 34. 50 and 5. 50 g/animal/d for the control diet but there were 9. 60، 47. 70 and 13. 30 g/animal/d for the diet contained 160g/kg BL that ranked the highest amounts (P<0. 05) between all diets In conclusion، supplementing roughage based diets with 160 g/Kg of BL could improve the nutrients intake and nitrogen metabolism in sheep.