Nutritional evaluation of poultry litter treated with acids incorporated in sheep diet

Abstract

Poultry litter is an economical and safe source of crude protein, minerals and energy for ruminant animals. The aim of this study was to test diets containing poultry litter treated with acids as a component of rations for growing lambs.Four diets were used in this study, a control diet, diet mix containing untreated poultry litter, diet mix containing poultry litter treated with HCl acid and diet mix containing poultry litter treated with acetic acid. The control diet consisted of 48% maize, 40% wheat bran, 10% sun flower seed cake, 1.5% limestone and 0.5% salt. In the other three diets the sun flower seed cake was replaced untreated poultry litter, poultry litter treated with HC1 and poultry litter treated with acetic acid respectively. The diets were manufactured in a commercial feed mill. All ingredients were ground to a maximum size of 6 mm. In the press unit steam was used for pelleting the feed into 8 mm diameter pellets.