Effect of adding different levels of water to the total mixed ration on performance, feed intake, nutrients digestibility and feeding behavior of fattening lambs

This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of adding different levels of water to the total mixed ration on growth performance, nutrients intake, digestibility and feeding behavior of fattening lambs. For this purpose, 28 Lori male lambs with120 ± 6 days old and 33.4 ± 3.4 kg of live weight were used in completely randomized design experiment with 4 treatments and 7 lambs per treatment. Experimental diets containing levels 10 (control), 20, 30 and 40 % moisture were fed to the lambs for 56 days. Results showed that dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP) and neutral detergent fiber intakes were elevated linearly when dietary moisture content increased up to 30 % (P<0.05). Total weight gain, average daily gain and chewing activity traits including rumination and chewing were improved linearly (P<0.05) with increasing dietary moisture content up to 30%. Increasing the level of dietary moisture up to 30% linearly increased DM, OM and CP digestibility (P<0.05). In conclusion, increasing the dietary moisture of fattening lambs up to 30% improved feed intake and growth performance of fattening lambs.