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- Title
Energy requirements of Dorper crossbred ewe lambs.
- Authors
Deng, K. D.; Jiang, C. G.; Tu, Y.; Zhang, N. F.; Liu, J.; Ma, T.; Zhao, Y. G.; Xu, G. S.; Diao, Q. Y.
- Abstract
The ME and NE requirements of Dorper crossbred ewe lambs grown from 35 to 50 kg BW were assessed in a comparative slaughter trial. Thirty-five ewe lambs (33.5 ± 0.6 kg BW) of F1 crosses of purebred Dorper and thin-tailed Han sheep were used: 7 lambs were slaughtered at the start of the trial to provide baseline measures of body composition and 7 lambs were fed ad libitum and slaughtered when they reached 43 kg BW to provide intermediate measures of body composition. The remaining 21 lambs were divided into 3 groups of 7 lambs each and fed a pelleted mixed diet (concentrate:roughage = 44:56, DM basis) for ad libitum intake or 65 or 45% of ad libitum intake. All 3 groups were slaughtered when the ad libitum group reached 50 kg BW. Total body energy, N, fat, ash, and moisture content were measured. In a separate trial, 15 ewe lambs (39.5 ± 0.7 kg BW) of F1 crosses of purebred Dorper and thin-tailed Han sheep were housed in metabolism cages to evaluate the ME value of the diet at each of the 3 levels of feed intake. In vivo methane production was measured by open-circuit respirometry along with the collection of all feces and urine. The daily NEm requirement of the ewe lambs was 280 kJ/kg metabolic BW (BW0.75) or 292 kJ/kg metabolic shrunk BW (SBW0.75), whereas the daily ME requirement for maintenance was 418 kJ/kg BW0.75 or 437 kJ/kg SBW0.75, with a partial efficiency of ME utilization for maintenance of 0.67. The NE requirement ranged from 1.37 to 3.94 MJ/d for ADG from 100 to 250 g BW, and the partial efficiency of ME utilization for gain was 0.44. The NE and ME requirements of Dorper × thin-tailed Han crossbred ewe lambs were lower than the recommendations of the United States' nutritional system.
- Subjects
LAMBS; FIBER content of food; BODY composition; SHEEP; FECES
- Publication
Journal of Animal Science, 2014, Vol 92, Issue 5, p2161
- ISSN
0021-8812
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.2527/jas.2013-7314