Study of the Hydroponic Barley Effect on the Performance of Feedlot of Calves in the Region Souss Massa (Southern Morocco)

Samir Bari ,El Moukhtari Mounaim ,Ait Ichou Ihya ,Leila Aboudlou ,Nadir Maryem ,A El-Nawawy Mohammad ,Assabbane Ali ,Mannas Hasna ,Kaaya Abderrazak

doi:10.7176/jbah/11-14-05

Abstract

The objective of this research is to investigate the effect of the introduction of hydroponic barley; produced as feed supplement in the ration, on the performance of feedlot calves. This study was performed in the Taroudant region (South of Morocco), during a trial period between July and October 2017). A total of 100 calves were used in a feeding trial, which were divided into two groups. The calves of the first group received a total mixed ration (control), while the calves of the second group received a similar ration with the addition of hydroponic barley.Similar growth performance is observed for the two groups, which is easily explained by the equivalent rationing. In the finishing phase, however, a higher average daily gain is observed for the group fed with an enriched diet in hydroponic green fodder. In fact, the average daily gain for this group amounts to 1.48 Kg/Day compared to 1.42 Kg/Day for the control group.The slaughter results confirm those noted in terms of growth performance, with a relatively similar carcass yield for the two groups.However, since hydroponic fodder reveals a positive impact especially at the level of the finishing phase, it seems judicious to introduce it in the key phases of fattening and finishing in order to perfect the weight gain of the species benefiting from this contribution.The test results suggest that hydroponic barley based rationing is to deepen, and that it would be desirable to repeat the experiment by testing different levels of hydroponic barley intake, adjusting both the type and the level of complementation, with a more accurate monitoring of feeding. Keywords: Feedlot calves; Growth, Hydroponic barley, Performance, DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/11-14-05 Publication date: July 31 st 2021

Highlights

Green fodder is an essential component of the livestock ration, used to improve their production and reproduction performance
In the logical continuation of our previous work mentioned above, our study aims to determine the effect of the introduction of hydroponic barley, produced as a food supplement in the ration, on the performance of feedlot calves
The Hydroponic Barley (HB) batch obtained a growth of 239.02 g/d against 251.77 g/d for the control batch

Summary

Introduction

Green fodder is an essential component of the livestock ration, used to improve their production and reproduction performance. To improve livestock products, quality green fodder should be given more often to animals (Dung et al, 2010). Various constraints are faced by the farmers for the production of green fodder in the Souss Massa plain. Factors such as small land holdings, unavailability of land for fodder cultivation, scarcity of water or saline water, the semi-arid climate of the region (with more than 3,000 hours of sunshine), the increasingly frequent droughts, and the exponential overexploitation of the table water, could hinders the growth of livestock and could this deficit limits any increase in the yield of animals

Objectives

Results

Conclusion