Effect of substituting forage ration with processed broiler litter on nutrient digestibility, ruminal parameters and blood metabolites in Moghani male sheep

The aim of present study was to investigate the effects of processed broiler litter (PBL) levels at 0, 8, 16 and 24% at the expense of dietary forage (i.e., alfalfa and wheat straw at 65 and 35 percent, respectively) on apparent nutrients digestibility, ruminal parameters and blood metabolites in Moghani male sheep. The broiler litter was processed at 75-85 oC for 20 min in the special hot tanks. Sixteen Moghani male sheep were allocated into four experimental diet groups with four animals in each diet in a completely randomized design. Results showed that sheep fed diet containing 16% PBL linearly increased (p < 0.05) digestibility of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), CP and ash-free neutral detergent fiber (NDFom). Increasing the level of PBL in the diet linearly tended to decrease (P=0.07) ruminal pH, but increased (p < 0.05) ammonia nitrogen concentration. Blood urea nitrogen (BUN) increased with increasing PBL level in the diet (p < 0.05). Overall, results of this study indicated that substituting PBL up to 16% of forage diet improved nutrients digestibility, ammonia nitrogen concentration and BUN of Moghani male sheep.