Effects of partially replacing ewe's milk by soy milk on the performance of new-born lambs [electronic resource].

Includes references.

To investigate the effect of partially substituting ewe's milk by two levels of soy milk on lamb's performance, a total number of 15 new-born Ossimi lambs (6 females and 9 males) 5-6 day of age and 3.7± 0.1 kg LBW, were used after they were fed on the colostrum. Experimental lambs were randomly divided into three experimental groups. Each consists of five lambs and was artificially fed during me suckling period-(the first period, the first 15 d of the experiment) on either ewe's milk (control group, G₁), 50% ewe's milk plus 50% soy milk (G₂) or 25% ewe's milk plus 75% soy milk. (G₃). rn the second period (liquid plus solid feeding), lambs were fed on the same milk beside a lamb starter starting from the third week of the experiment. The liquid diets and the starter were offered ad-libitum. Three lambs from each group were used to estimate nutrient digestibility coefficients. The results during the first period show that lambs fed on 50% scoymilk plus 50% ewe's milk (G₂) had the lowest (P<0.05) final body weight gain. However. me differences of total gain and consequently, average daily gain were not significant (P > 0.05). Daily dry matter (DMI) and crude protein intakes (CPI) for lambs led on ewe's milk were significantly (P<0.05) lower than those of the other groups. Gain: intake ratio of different experimental groups indicate that lambs fed on ewe's milk only bad significantly (P<0.05) the best value. During the second period, liquid and solid feeding period. no significant differences in the final weights and total gains were detected among the experimental groups. Lambs of Oz consumed significantly (P<0.05) the highest amount of daily DM from liquid diet and lowest DMr from starter. Gain: feed intake ratio during the second feeding period indicate that lambs fed 75% soymilk (G₃) were better than those fed ewe's milk (G₁) or 50%, soymilk (G₂). Digestion co-efficient of DM and CP were significantly (P<0.05) higher for lambs of G₃ than those of G₁ and G₂. Lambs performance over the entire experimental period showed that no significant differences were detected among the groups for final body weights. total gains and daily total DMI. No significant differences were observed among the groups for feed efficiency during the entire experimental period either when expressed as DMI or by CPI. According to the results reported here, it can be concluded that soymilk can be used successfully in rearing new-born lambs.

Summary in Arabic.

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