Milk yield and quality and performance of Awassi ewes fed two levels of hydroponic barley

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Journal Title, Volume, Page: 
Journal of new sciences, Agriculture and Biotechnology, 39(6), 2136-2143
Year of Publication: 
2017
Authors: 
E. BADRAN
J. ABO OMAR
AL. QAISY
R. ABU AMSHA
M. AL JAMMAL
M. QADRI
Preferred Abstract (Original): 
The objective of this research was to investigate the effect of feeding different levels of hydroponic barley (H) on general performance and milk yield and quality of lactating Awassi ewes. A total of 48 lactating ewes were used in a feeding trial in three groups. The first was fed a regular lactation total mixed ration (TMR) while ewes in the second and third treatments were fed similar ration except that regular wheat hay was replaced by H at levels of 50 (H1) and 100% (H2), for 120 days feeding trial. Results of the experiment showed that H yield in 8 days germination cycle was 8.0 kg per 1 kg barley grains. Hat two levels had no effects on feed intake (FI), body weight changes, milk yield, and milk composition; however, H had positive effects on ewe’s health conditions, mortalities, conception rates and abortion. In conclusion, H can be used as supplemental roughage feed for lactating sheep as cost of feed can be reduced on average by 57%.
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