TY  - JOUR
T1  - Determination of the Nutritional Quality of Prickly Pear Forage
(Opuntia ficus-indica) in the Diet of Ewe Lambs
AU - Mejia Haro, Ignacio AU - A. Guadalajara Rodriguez, Salvador AU - Ortiz de la Rosa, Benjamin AU - Manuel Martinez Mireles, Jose AU - Marin Perales, Victor M. AU - Ramos Davila, Mauricio AU - Carrillo, Evaristo 
JO  - Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances
VL  - 18
IS  - 4
SP  - 119
EP  - 123
PY  - 2019
DA  - 2001/08/19
SN  - 1680-5593
DO  - javaa.2019.119.123
UR  - https://makhillpublications.co/view-article.php?doi=javaa.2019.119.123
KW  - Sheep
KW  -finishing lambs
KW  -Opuntia
KW  -distributed
KW  -increased
KW  -reduction
AB  - The objective of the study was to determine the productive performance, daily weight gain (ADG),
daily Feed Intake (FI) Feed Conversion (FC) and Total Weight Gain (TWG) of growing lambs. Eighteen crossed
dorper-pelibuey and katahdin female lambs with an initial mean live weight of 17.6±1.8 kg were used and fed
diets using different levels of Prickly Pear Forage (PPF). Treatments were: T0) A mixed diet+0% PPF;
T1) T0 +15% of PPF, on dry basis and T2) T0+30% of PPF. The lambs were housed in individual pens where
they were provided of feed and water for free access, giving the mixed diet separately from the chopped fresh
PPF. The lambs were 69 days in an experimental period and were distributed in a completely random design with
three treatments. Data were analyzed by analysis of variance and multiple comparison tests of means by tukey.
The final live weight was obtained and no significant differences were observed (p>0.05) among treatments,
T0: 30.5; T1: 29.0; T2: 28.7 kg; the same happened for ADG, TWG and FC but FI, (p<0.05) decreased as the PPF
increased (T0: 1198, T1: 1050, T2: 951 g). No differences were observed in acetic, propionic, butyric acid and N<sub>-NH3</sub> in ruminal fluid. It is concluded that as the percentage of PPF in diet increased, the feed intake decreased which led to the reduction of ADG in lambs, without differences in FC, VFA and N<sub>-NH3</sub> in ruminal fluid.
ER  -