Oil supplementation improved growth and diet digestibility in goats and sheep fed fattening diet.

Su Chui Len Candyrine,Wei Li Chen,Mahdi Ebrahimi,Juan Boo Liang,Siamak Rezaei,Mohammad Faseleh Jahromi,Yong Meng Goh,Norhani Abdullah

doi:10.5713/ajas.18.0059

Abstract

ObjectiveThis study evaluated the growth, digestibility and rumen fermentation between goats and sheep fed a fattening diet fortified with linseed oil.MethodsTwelve 3 to 4 months old male goats and sheep were randomly allocated into two dietary treatment groups in a 2 (species)×2 (oil levels) factorial experiment. The treatments were: i) goats fed basal diet, ii) goats fed oil-supplemented diet, iii) sheep fed basal diet, and iv) sheep fed oil-supplemented diet. Each treatment group consisted of six animals. Animals in the basal diet group were fed with 30% alfalfa hay and 70% concentrates at a rate equivalent to 4% of their body weight. For the oil treatment group, linseed oil was added at 4% level (w:w) to the concentrate portion of the basal diet. Growth performance of the animals was determined fortnightly. Digestibility study was conducted during the final week of the feeding trial before the animals were slaughtered to obtain rumen fluid for rumen fermentation characteristics study.ResultsSheep had higher (p<0.01) average daily weight gain (ADG) and better feed conversion ratio (FCR) than goats. Oil supplementation did not affect rumen fermentation in both species and improved ADG by about 29% and FCR by about 18% in both goats and sheep. The above enhancement is consistent with the higher dry matter and energy digestibility (p<0.05), as well as organic matter and neutral detergent fiber digestibility (p<0.01) in animals fed oil- supplemented diet. Sheep had higher total volatile fatty acid production and acetic acid proportion compared to goat.ConclusionThe findings of this study suggested that sheep performed better than goats when fed a fattening diet and oil supplementation at the inclusion rate of 4% provides a viable option to significantly enhance growth performance and FCR in fattening sheep and goats.

Highlights

Asia-Pacific region is home to about half of the global two billion goats and sheep which play a vital socio-economic role in the region [1]
In a recent in vitro study, Candyrine et al [9] reported that goats had better rumen fermentation characteristics, including higher volatile fatty acids (VFAs) production and higher population of cellulolytic bacteria compared to sheep, suggesting that goats could be more superior in digesting feed materials
The higher body weight gain (BWG) and better feed conversion ratio (FCR) in sheep compared to goats could be attributed to the higher intake of sheep, which been grazers, are less selective in what were offered to them compared to goats under the confined feeding protocol applied in this study

Summary

Introduction

Asia-Pacific region is home to about half of the global two billion goats and sheep which play a vital socio-economic role in the region [1]. The current traditional low-input farming system of goats and sheep across many Asian countries hinders the growth of the industry to meet the increasing demand This traditional production system involved animal feeding on poor quality feed with almost no supplementary feeding resulting in animals achieving low growth rate and take longer time to reach market weight [2]. In a recent in vitro study, Candyrine et al [9] reported that goats had better rumen fermentation characteristics, including higher volatile fatty acids (VFAs) production and higher population of cellulolytic bacteria compared to sheep, suggesting that goats could be more superior in digesting feed materials. This study was conducted with the objective to co-compare the growth performance, nutrient digestibility and rumen fermentation characteristics in goats and sheep fed high concentrate fattening diet with and without linseed oil supplementation

Methods

Results

Conclusion