This study determined productive performance, ruminal fermentation kinetics and rumen ciliate protozoa in hair sheep lambs fed different levels of olive oil. Twenty-four growing lambs were used, with an initial live weight of 10.5 ± 2.9 kg, and randomly assigned into four treatments (six animals per treatment) containing increasing levels of extra virgin olive oil (0, 2, 4 and 6% of dry matter). Animals were fed for 80 days, and sampling was carried out weekly. Intake of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF) and metabolizable energy (ME) differed between treatments (p < 0.05), with a linear and cubic tendency to decrease when oil concentrations were increased. Digestibility coefficients of OM, CP and NDF were not affected; however, the relationship between total intake and nutrient digestibility (DM, OM, NDF, ADF) increased with 2% DM olive oil. Compared with all treatments, the concentration of propionic acid increased by 16% with 4% olive oil. The intake of olive oil did not affect the protozoa population and live weight gain. Overall, the inclusion of olive oil in low concentrations (2% of DM) positively influences feed intake and nutrient digestibility in hair sheep lambs.
Keywords: conjugated linoleic acid; energy; ruminants; supplementation; vegetable oils.