Wheat silage partially replacing oaten hay exhibited greater feed efficiency and fibre digestion despite low feed intake by feedlot lambs

Zhao-Yang Cui; Wen-Juan Li; Wei-Kang Wang; Qi-Chao Wu; Yao-Wen Jiang; Ailiyasi Aisikaer; Fan Zhang; He-Wei Chen; Hong-Jian Yang

doi:10.1016/j.aninu.2023.08.010

Wheat silage partially replacing oaten hay exhibited greater feed efficiency and fibre digestion despite low feed intake by feedlot lambs

Anim Nutr. 2023 Sep 19:15:332-340. doi: 10.1016/j.aninu.2023.08.010. eCollection 2023 Dec.

Authors

Zhao-Yang Cui¹, Wen-Juan Li¹, Wei-Kang Wang¹, Qi-Chao Wu¹, Yao-Wen Jiang¹, Ailiyasi Aisikaer¹, Fan Zhang¹, He-Wei Chen¹, Hong-Jian Yang¹

Affiliation

¹ State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the feeding effect of wheat silage on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, rumen fermentation, and microbiota composition in feedlot lambs. Sixty-four male crossbred Chinese Han lambs (BW = 27.8 ± 0.67 kg, 3 months of age) were randomly assigned to four ration groups with wheat silage replacing 0% (WS0), 36% (WS36), 64% (WS64), and 100% (WS100) of oaten hay on forage dry matter basis. The concentrate-to-forage ratio was 80:20 and the feeding trial lasted 52 d. Increasing wheat silage inclusion linearly decreased dry matter intake by 4% to 27% (P < 0.01). However, increasing the wheat silage replacement of oaten hay by no more than 64% improved the feed efficiency by 14% as noted by the feed-to-gain ratio (P = 0.04). Apparent digestibility of organic matter (P < 0.01), neutral detergent fibre (P = 0.04) and acid detergent fibre (P < 0.01) quadratically increased. Ammonia nitrogen (P = 0.01) decreased while microbial protein production (P < 0.01) increased with the increase of wheat silage inclusion. Total volatile fatty acids concentration increased quadratically with the increase of wheat silage inclusion (P < 0.01), and the highest occurred in WS64. The molar proportion of acetate (P < 0.01) and acetate-to-propionate ratio (P = 0.04) decreased while butyrate (P < 0.01) and isovalerate (P = 0.04) increased. Increasing wheat silage inclusion increased the Firmicutes-to-Bacteroidota ratio by 226% to 357%, resulting in Firmicutes instead of Bacteroidota being the most abundant phylum. The relative abundance of cellulolytic Ruminococcus numerically increased but that of amylolytic Prevotella (P < 0.01) decreased as increasing wheat silage inclusion. Taken together, increasing wheat silage replacement of oaten hay by no more than 64% exhibited greater feed efficiency and fibre digestion despite low feed intake by feedlot lambs due to the change of Firmicutes-to-Bacteroidota ratio in the rumen.

Keywords: Feedlot lamb; Growth performance; Nutrient digestibility; Oaten hay; Rumen fermentation; Wheat silage.