Effect of feeding pellets prepared with different concentrate to wheat straw ratios on productive performance of Awassi lambs

• Haider A. M. Al-Husseini1 Ali A. Saeed 2 , Haitham M. Hussein 3 , Hayder Atta Abdul-Jabbar Hasan4 Waleed A. Abd Al-Jabbar5

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This study was carried out to investigate the effect of feeding different ratios of concentrate: wheat straw (C: R) on productive performance of Awassi lambs. Five pellets of total mixed diets containing concentrate and wheat straw at 30:70, 40:60, 50:50, 60:40 and 70:30 ratios were prepared and offered to lambs ad libitum. Twenty Awassi male lambs at 4-6 months of age, with average initial body weight of about 25 kg were used. Lambs were randomly allotted on those five pellet diets. Results showed that lambs fed pellets prepared with C: R ratios of 70:30 and 60:40 gained higher (P<0.05) final weight (39.34 and 39.04 kg) as compared with lambs fed pellets prepared with C: R ratio of 30:70 (35.51 kg). But, the significant (P<0.01) superiority of lambs fed higher C: R ratios in average total (TG) and daily gains (ADG) was extended to include lambs fed pellets prepared with 50:50, 40:60 and 30:70 of C: R ratios. Despite the significant response of lambs to increasing C: R ratio on growth data, they responded mathematically in term of the feed conversion ratio (FCR) calculated on the basis of total or even digestible dry matter and organic matter intakes.

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