Using probiotics to improve the utilization of chopped dried date palm leaves as a feed in diets of growing Farafra lambs

Hatem A Hamdon; Ayman Y Kassab; Einar Vargas-Bello-Pérez; Galal A Abdel Hafez; Talaat A Sayed; Mohsen M Farghaly; Ahmed E Kholif

doi:10.3389/fvets.2022.1048409

Using probiotics to improve the utilization of chopped dried date palm leaves as a feed in diets of growing Farafra lambs

Front Vet Sci. 2022 Oct 26:9:1048409. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2022.1048409. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Hatem A Hamdon¹, Ayman Y Kassab¹, Einar Vargas-Bello-Pérez², Galal A Abdel Hafez³, Talaat A Sayed¹, Mohsen M Farghaly³, Ahmed E Kholif⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, New Valley University, Kharga, Egypt.
² Department of Animal Sciences, School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom.
³ Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt.
⁴ Department of Dairy Science, National Research Centre, Giza, Egypt.

Abstract

The study determined the ability of three probiotics to improve the nutritional value of date palm leaves in diets of growing lambs. Twenty male Farafra lambs (26 ± 0.33 kg) were randomly allocated to one of four treatments (n = 6) and fed: a control or basal diet (C; 70% concentrate + 30% date palm leaves without additives) and supplemented with Bacillofort containing 2 × 10¹¹ CFU of Bacillus subtilis/g (BAC treatment), Lacotpro containing 1 × 10¹² CFU of Lactobacillus acidophilus/g (LAC treatment) or ZAD containing 6 × 10⁸ CFU of R. albus/g (ZAD treatment) at 4 g of all additives for 150 days. As a result of this study, LAC improved (P < 0.05) growth performance and feed efficiency compared to control. Additives increased (P = 0.001) concentrations of albumin, triiodothyronine, and thyroxine, hemoglobin concentration and red blood cells and decreased (P = 0.001) globulin and urea-N. Additives increased hot carcass (P = 0.040) while BAC increased Longissimus dorsi, meat and fat without affecting water holding capacity compared to other treatments. In the metabolism experiment, BAC increased the digestibility of crude protein, while BAC and ZAD increased the digestibility of dry matter, organic matter, and neutral detergent fiber. Additives did not affect nitrogen (N) intake and urinary N; however, decreased fecal N and increased N balance compared to the control. BAC and ZAD increased ruminal volatile fatty acids concentration compared to the control. Based on our results, Lacotpro could be used to improve growth performance and feed efficiency, while Bacillofort could be used to improve meat quality of in lambs.

Keywords: blood metabolites; date palm leaves; digestibility; performance; wheat straw.