Productive and reproductive performance of Barki ewes fed on sprouted barley grains on desert by-products during lactating period

摘要

In arid and semi-arid areas browse species such as Acacia saligna is a leguminous shrub was considered one of the principal feed resources, barley straw one of agriculture wastes produced in a large amount but they have low nutritive value, so several treatments were applied to ameliorate the utilization of acacia and barley straw. The present experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of sprouted barley grains on acacia pruning and barley straw as media and mixture of them. Forty-four Barki ewes were randomly divided into four equal groups (11 ewes each). Ewes of the first group were fed a control diet of berseem hay and CFM, the second group (D1) was fed ad libitum a diet contained sprouted barley grains on barley straw with CFM, the third group (D2) was fed ad libitum a diet contained sprouted barley grains on acacia pruning with CFM, and the fourth group was fed ad libitum a diet contained sprouted barley grains on mixture of similar amounts of both barley straw and acacia pruning with CFM. Ewes fed the three experimental fodders recorded higher (P0.05) dry fodder intake (g/h/d) than those fed control diet. Digestibility of CP for lactating Barki ewes was not affected by the type of roughage while the values of DM, OM, CF, NDF and ADF digestibility were (P0.05) higher with sprouted barley seeds (D2, D1 and D3) than those fed the control diet. Also, total digestible nutrients (TDN%) showed higher (P0.05) improvements for ewes fed D2 followed by control diet, D3 and the lowest was D1. However, There were insignificant differences between treatment groups in digestible crude protein (DCP%) values. Nitrogen balance showed (P0.05) an increased in D2 diets compared to other diets. No significant differences were noted among tested groups for body weight changes, pH and ammonia-nitrogen (NH3-N), but lactating ewes fed sprouted barley grains on roughages showed higher (P0.01) total volatile fatty acid (TVFA′s) than ewes fed the control diet. Milk composition of fat, total solids (TS), ash and energy (kcal/kg) had higher (P0.01) values for ewes fed D2 diet compared to other groups, while milk yield and 4% fat-corrected milk (FCM) were not affected. The findings of the present study showed (P0.01) increased on average birth weight for lambs fed D2 diet compared to other groups. Average daily gain was insignificantly higher for animals fed D2 diet than those fed the control diet. Blood parameters were not affected by treatments. The lowest total feed cost along the feeding period was observed for animals fed sprouted fodder compared to the control diet. In conclusion we can produce green fodder by utilizing dried acacia pruning and barley straw by simple methodology using crop sprouts (barley) to improve productive performance for of Barki ewes.