Effect of dietary non-fiber carbohydrates level and grain source on growth performance, nutrient digestibility and carcass traits of fattening-Lori lambs

Different cereals are used to feed the sheep. The grains have different level and combinations of non-fiber carbohydrates (NFC) that can affect the digestibility and performance of the lamb. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of dietary level of NFC and type of cereal grain on performance, nutrient digestibility and carcass characteristics of fattening lambs.
In this study, twenty nearly 90 day-old lambs with the average weight of 25±1/1 kg were assigned in a factorial arrangement based on completely randomized design with four treatments and five replicates each, over 80 days. Treatments consisted of 1- ground barley grain with 33 percent NFC, 2- milled barley grain with 40 percent NFC, and 3- ground corn with 40 percent of NFC. Metabolizable energy, crude protein, forage to concentration ratio and cell wall level were same between experimental treatments. In this experiment, feed and fecal sampling was performed on two times during the experimental period. At the end of the finishing period, two lambs from each treatment were slaughtered and carcass weight and hot, hip, shoulder, fat, carcass without tail, thigh and shoulder, weight of liver, kidney, heart, pancreas, abdominal fat and empty rumen and reticulum were recorded.
Digestibility of organic matter, neutral detergent fiber and crude ash decreased with increasing levels of NFC. Use of corn grain increased of digestibility organic matter, acid detergent fiber and crude fat. There were significant differences between treatments for carcass treatments, percent of pestle, carcass without tail, percent of abdominal fat and tail to carcass. The lowest percent of kidney and pancreas was observed in corn grain with 40 percent NFC. Using corn with 33 percent NFC caused the decrease in rumen and reticulum emptiness.
The results showed that lambs performance, carcass weight, thigh percent and carcass without tail and abdominal fat percentage and fat in the carcass weight were affected by grain. The dry matter digestibility was not affected by grain, but organic matter digestibility was higher in lambs that fed diets containing corn. It seems that corn with 40 percent carbohydrate showed better performance among treatments and recommended for breeding programs.