EFFECT OF SUBSTITUTION DATE BY BARLEY WITH TWO SOURCES OF NITROGEN ON INTAKE, LIVE WEIGHT DAIN, FEED CONVERSION RATIO AND DIGESTION COEFFICIENTS

Abstract

Twenty four individual Awassi male lambs were used.They were weighing 23.5 + 0.50kg and 5-7 months of age. The lambs were divided into six equal groups and fed six experimental diets containing 0, 10 and 20% whole dates supplemented with either soybean meal or urea using 3x2 factorial experimental design on daily intake, live weight gain The diets were offered accoray to the body weight 2.7 % and maintained to 9 weeks. The results indicated that the total daily feed intake was highest in lambs fed 10% dates and lowest in lambs fed the 20% dates diet. Nitrogen sources had no effect on daily feed intake, while the interaction between the level of dates and nitrogen sources was significantly effected (P<0.05). The results showed that live weight gain and feed conversion ratio were not significantly affected by levels of date in the diets and source of nitrogen. The diet containing 10% dates had the highest (P<0.05) dry matter digestibility value, followed by the diet containing 20% and 0% dates. Lambs fed diet supplemented with urea had the highest (p < 0.05) digestibility as compared with those fed soybean meal. In Conclusion, substitution of 10 – 20% discarded date by barley grain in the fattening diets of Awassi lambs had no effect on live weight gain and feed conversion ratio