An-Najah Staff

Effects of silage (S) made of a mixure of different by-products on growth performance 2a3nd
nutrient digestibility were studied in 24 male Assaf lambs of 35.0 ± 0.110 kg initial b2o4dy
weight. Animals were randomly divided into 4 groups of 6 lambs each. Lambs w2e5re
individually fed a fixed amount of concentrate along with by-products silage as total m i2x6ed
ration (TMR). The by-products silage (S) replaced 0, 50, 75 and 100% of wheat straw (i.e .2 07S,
50S, 75S and 100S). Silage was prepared from a mixure of olive cake (OC), tomato w a2s8tes
(TW) and poultry litter (PL) at levels of 700, 100 and 200 g/kg DM, respectively. All d2ie9ts
were isonitrogenous and isoenergic. A digestion trial was performed during the last week o f3 t0he
feeding trial. All lambs were slaughtered at the termination of the 70d feeding study. Re s3u1lts
showed that lambs fed the 75S and 100S diets had lower (P < 0.05) feed intake and better (3P2 <
0.05) feed conversion ratios (FC) compared to lambs fed the 0S and 50S diets. Silage (3i.3e.,
100S) increased (P < 0.05) the digestibility of dry matter (DM), acid detergent fiber (A D3F4),
neutral detergent fiber (aNDF) and fat. These results show the positive effects of silage, m3a5de
prepared from local by-products, when used at high levels on most tested parameters.