The effect of replacing soybean meal and cottonseed meal with mixed meal on performance, digestibility of nutrients, feed intake behavior, milk composition and blood parameters of Dalagh ewes

This study was conducted in order to investigate the effect of replacing soybean meal and cottonseed meal with mixed meal on performance, digestibility of nutrients, feed intake behavior, milk composition and blood parameters of Dalagh ewes. 21 lactating Dalagh ewes in week 6 of lactation (average body weight ± standard deviation = 38±2.6 kg) were randomly divided into 3 groups with 7 repetitions. The treatments were included: diet with soybean meal, diet with cottonseed meal and diet with mixed meal. The results showed that there is no significant difference between the experimental treatments in the final weight, daily weight gain and feed conversion rate of ewes. Dry matter intake and eating, rumination and chewing behavior increased in the treatment receiving mixed meal (P<0.05). In the treatment receiving mixed meal, a significant increase was observed in the amounts of daily milk production, non-fat solids and milk protein compared to the treatments receiving soybean meal and cottonseed meal (P<0.05). The digestibility of dry matter, organic matter and crude protein increased in the treatment receiving mixed meal (P<0.05), but the digestibility of NDF was not affected by the experimental treatments. No significant difference was observed in terms of glucose, cholesterol, triglyceride, total protein, albumin and globulin between different treatments, but the concentration of blood urea nitrogen in the treatments receiving soybean meal and cottonseed meal was higher than the treatment receiving mixed meal (P<0.05). According to results, mixed meal can be replaced with soybean meal and cottonseed meal in Dalagh ewe's diet.