TY  - JOUR
T1  - Effect of Diets Containing Different Levels of Steam Treated Pith Bagasse on Performance and Carcass Characteristics of Fattening Arabi Lambs
AU - Hashemipour, Ensiyeh AU - Dabiri, Najafgholi AU - Hashemipour, Hamideh 
JO  - Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances
VL  - 8
IS  - 11
SP  - 2139
EP  - 2142
PY  - 2009
DA  - 2001/08/19
SN  - 1680-5593
DO  - javaa.2009.2139.2142
UR  - https://makhillpublications.co/view-article.php?doi=javaa.2009.2139.2142
KW  - Steam treated pith bagasse
KW  -performance
KW  -average daily gain
KW  -average dry matter intake
KW  -feed conversion ratio
KW  -carcass characteristics
KW  -Arabi lambs
AB  - The effect of dietary containing different levels of steam treated pith on performance and carcass characteristics in growing Arabi lambs were investigated during a period of 10 weeks (70 days) using 40 lambs of 3 months old with an average live weight of 18.25 kg. The dietary treatments were 100% barley (diet 1), 75% barley + 25% pith (diet 2), 50% barley + 50% pith (diet 3) and 25% barley +75% pith (diet 4), respectively. The total pith contents of diets 1-4 were 0, 11, 22 and 33% (pith), respectively. The lambs were allocated to the diets (10 lambs diet<SUP>-1</SUP>) according to a completely randomized design. The diets formulated according NRC and had approximately, similar nutrients contents. Average Dry Matter Intake (DMI) of lambs fed diets 1-4 during whole period of experiment were 1400, 1441, 1389 and 1466 g day<SUP>-1</SUP>, respectively. Average Daily Gain (ADG) of lambs for diets 1-4 during whole period of experiment were 267&plusmn;19.3, 307&plusmn;18.8, 251&plusmn;42.1 and 226&plusmn;28.3 g day<SUP>-1</SUP>, respectively. Despite non significantly differences between ADG of control group with lambs fed diet 2 and 3, but lambs fed diet 4 had significantly (p&lt;0.05) lower ADG than control group. The same trend was found for feed conversion ratio (F/G). Average F/G were 5.24&plusmn;0.2, 4.7&plusmn;0.2, 5.5&plusmn;0.74 and 6.5&plusmn;0.65, respectively for diets 1-4. The main carcass characteristics (composition and chops) were not affected by dietary treatments (p&gt;0.05), but diet 2 had the best economic efficiency. This study suggests that lambs fed diet 3 had also better net return than control group, which is important for Iran condition. So, it is concluded that pith a by product of sugarcane has potential as an alternative feed source for ruminants, particularly for fattening lambs.
ER  -