Influence of corn-dried distiller’s grain with solubles on growth performance and blood metabolites of Awassi lambs offered a concentrate diet

Abstract

Objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of partial replacement of soybean meal and barley grain with corn-dried distiller’s grains with solubles (DDGS) on growth performance of Awassi lambs. Thirty lambs (3 to 4 months of age; 24.9 ± 1.93 kg; initial BW) were randomly assigned to three diets; (1) control diet (CON), (2) treatment diet containing 75 g DDGS/kg dietary dry matter (DM) (DDGS75) or treatment diet containing 150 g/kg DDGS/kg dietary DM (DDGS150). The study lasted for 63 days. Lamb BW and blood samples were measured on day 0, 21, 42, and 63 before the morning feeding. At the end of the feeding trial, 6 lambs from each treatment group were chosen at random and housed in metabolic cages to evaluate nutrient digestibility and N balance. Intakes, nutrient digestibility and N balance measures were similar (p > .05) among dietary treatments. Initial BW, final BW, ADG as well as feed efficiency were similar (p > .05) among the dietary treatment diets. Cost of gain reduced (p ≤ .05) in lambs fed DDGS150 compared with the CON and DDGS75 diets. Serum concentrations of urea N, glucose, total protein, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase and albumin were similar (p >.05) among diets. Results demonstrated that inclusion the DDGS at 75 or 150 g/kg of diet DM could replace part of the soybean meal and barley grain without affecting nutrient intake and growth performance while it reduced the cost of feed and cost of gain.

Keywords

• Awassi lambs
• blood metabolites
• DDGS
• nutrient intake and digestibility