Chemical composition and gas production parameters of tomato pomace ensiled with sugar beet pulp and bacterial inoculation and its effect on performance of Moghani fattening lambs

This research was conducted in order to evaluate the chemical composition and gas production potential of tomato pomace ensiled with sugar beet pulp (5 and 10 percent of tomato pulp weight) and bacterial inoculation (lactobacillus plantarum, 1 mg per kg of fresh forage) and its effect on performance of fattening lambs. Fattening trial was performed using 25 Moghani male lambs (29.164±3.78 kg) for 70 days. Lambs were randomly divided into 5 groups and each group received one of the treatments of control, diet without tomato pomace silage (treatment 1), diet containing tomato pomace silage ensiled with 5 percent sugar beet pulp (treatment 2), diet containing tomato pomace silage ensiled with 10 percent sugar beet pulp (treatment 3), diet containing tomato pomace silage ensiled with 5 percent sugar beet pulp and bacterial inoculation (treatment 4) and diet containing tomato pomace silage ensiled with 10 percent sugar beet pulp and bacterial inoculation (treatment 5). The amount of gas production potential, organic matter digestibility, metabolizable energy and short chain fatty acids was higher in tomato pomace silage ensiled with 10 percent sugar beet pulp and bacterial inoculation than control. Feed intake and feed conversion ratio were significantly higher in control than other treatments. Using tomato pomace ensiled with sugar beet pulp decreased feed cost and the for 1 kg gain followed by increased daily profit. Totally, the use of tomato pomace ensiled with 10 percent sugar beet pulp is suggested in fattening lamb diet.