Abstract
The effects of supplementation of different levels of brewer’s dried grain on feed intake, digestibility and body weight change were studied using 20 yearling male local (‘Wogera’) lambs weighing 16.96 ± 2.4 kg (Mean ± SD). Lambs were blocked based on their initial body weight into five blocks of four animals each, and randomly allocated to four dietary treatments, that consisted of feeding of lambs in T1 (control) with grass hay ad libitum and lambs in T2, T3, and T4 with grass hay ad libitum plus 100, 200 and 300 g DM brewer’s dried grain (BDG) per lamb per day, respectively. Treatment rations were offered in two equal portions at 0800 and 1600 h and lambs had free access to water and mineral licks at all times. The results showed that the daily total dry matter intake (DMI) and crude protein intake (CPI) increased significantly (P < 0.05) with increasing levels of BDG, which correspondingly resulted in significantly higher (P< 0.05) final body weight (23.16 kg) and daily body weight gain (93.99 g/d) than the control group. Supplementation with 200 and 300 g DM BDG resulted in improved (P< 0.05) daily weight gain (70.44 and 93.99 g/d), respectively compared to supplementing with 100 g DM BDG (44.40 g/d). The un-supplemented group lost weight (3.0 g/d), even though their hay DMI was significantly higher (P < 0.05) than that of the lambs supplemented with 200 and 300 g DM BDG. The feed conversion efficiency was also significantly (P < 0.05) higher for the BDG supplementation. The apparent digestibility coefficient of CP was higher (P < 0.05) for lambs supplemented with 200 and 300 g DM BDG compared to those supplemented with 100 g DM BDG and the un-supplemented group, but no significant effect of BDG supplementation was observed for the apparent digestibility coefficients of NDF, ADF, OM and DMD. Based on DM and nutrient intakes, improved body weight gain and nutrient digestibility, it could be concluded that a daily supplementation of 300 g DM BDG might improve feed intake and nutrient utilization, body weight gain and feed conversion efficiency of yearling Wogera ram lambs.
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