Online ISSN : 2349-8080 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorinchiefijcrbp@gmail.com |
This investigation research was performed to compare between Barki lambs and Barki kids in feed intake, nutritive value, digestibility, body weight gain, and some rumen and blood parameters when fed three different tanniniferous shrubs. The forage concentrate ratio in all groups was 60%:40%. The forages were Acacia saligna, Prosopis juliflora and Cassava (G1, G2, and G3 respectively). The results indicated that the total DM intake (g/h/d) was decreased in G2 compared with G1 and G3. The digestibility of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP) and crude fiber (CF) were increased by goats compared with sheep, while nitrogen utilization was nearly similar between both species and the highest value was recorded with G3 vs. G1 or G2. The highest concentration of rumen fluid NH3-N and TVFA's were recorded with goats vs. sheep. Moreover, animals fed Acacia showed the lowest value in NH3-N and TVFA's than those fed Prosopis or Cassava. Feed conversion (g CP/kg gain) tended to decrease with goats vs. sheep. The measured blood parameters show slight differences due to the source of shrubs, where all levels were within the normal ranges. So, tanniniferous shrubs could have used without any adverse effect on intake, water utilization and growth performance which improves the economic return of raising sheep and goats under semi-desert conditions of the North-Western Coast in Egypt.