The effect of partial and total replacement of alfalfa hay with Alhagi maurorum on growth performance of fattening camel

The worldwide population growth leads to an increase in livestock production that along with the challenges caused by climate change and water scarcity highlights the importance of raising resistance livestock such as camels. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of partial and total replacement of dietary alfalfa with camelthorn. Total 18 fattening Sandi growing dromedary camels (9 to 10 months old with an average initial weight of 115±7.7 kg) were randomly assigned to one of three experimental treatments in a completely randomized design, with 6 replicates for each treatment. Experimental diets included: 1- control diet (without camelthorn), 2- diets containing 25% camelthorn, and 3- diets containing 50% camelthorn (dry matter basis). The feed intake was recorded daily and the animals were weighed monthly (on days 0, 30, 60, 90, and 150 of the experiment). The results showed that dry matter intake was increased with increasing camelthorn inclusion in the diet (P ≤ 0.05). Although, the average daily gain was reduced in the diet containing 50% DM camelthorn (P ≤ 0.05), but no significant difference was observed between the treatment containing 25% DM camelthorn and control. Feed cost per kilogram weight gain and profit per kilogram of weight gain tended to increase (P = 0.01) with increasing the inclusion of camelthorn in the diet. Overall, the findings of this study showed that feeding camels with camelthorn up to 50% of dietary DM, not only did not have severe deleterious effects on growth performance, but also reduced the production costs.