Feed intake, nutrient digestibility, feeding behavior and blood parameters in Atabai ewes fed with different levels of soybean straw

An experiment was executed to determine the effects of replacing wheat straw with soybeans straw on feed intake,An experiment was executed to determine the effects of replacing wheat straw with soybeans straw on feed intake, digestibility, feeding behavior and blood parameters in Atabai ewes. A total of eighteen non-pregnant with third pregnancy at the age of 4-5 years and weighing 36±  2.4kg were assigned assingned randomly to one of three treatment groups, having six animals each, for 6 weeks' experimental period. The dietary treatments included 0, 50% and 100%, substitution of soybean straw instead of wheat straw. The weight of the ewes was recorded at the beginning and end of the period. Feces and feed samples were collected on days 38 to 41 for three days in order to determine digestibility. Blood sampling was done on day 42 before morning feeding. On the 36th and 37th days, the activities related to the ewes' rumination behavior were carried out 24 hours a day on both days. According to the results, the treatments do not have a significant difference in feed conversion ratio, daily weight gain and dry matter consumption, also, no significant difference was observed among the experimental treatments in terms of digestibility, in general, there is a significant change in feeding behavior by changing the levels of soybeans in the diets of the treatments. Rumination, eating, chewing, jaw rest, drinking water, abnormal behavior in standing and lying down did not occur, and were not statistically significant (P>0.05). Blood glucose, cholesterol, triglyceride, urea nitrogen, protein, albumin and globulin levels were remained unaffected by replacing wheat straw with soybean straw (P>0.05). These finding suggest that soybean straw can be used as fodder to replace wheat straw in feeding ewes.