Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt.
2
Animal Production Research Institute, Ministry of Agriculture, Dokki, Cairo, Egypt.
Abstract
This study was carried out on twenty four weaned commercial male lambs of 5 months of age and 21.00 Kg body weight.. The lambs were allotted at random to six groups each of (4). The first group was served as control (concentrate diet), while the second, third ,fourth, fifth and sixth ones were fed the same diet supplemented with tafla clay at levels of 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 % per kg diets, respectively.
The results obtained for growing lambs showed that, the final live body weight, daily body gain, feed intake, feed efficiency and daily water intake were significantly (P < 0.05 or 0.01) improved, also the final margin and the dressing percentage were improved when treated growing lambs with tafla clay at levels of 1,3,5, 7, and 9 % per kg diets, respectively. The rectal temperature, wool temperature, skin temperature and respiration rate were not affected by using the previous treatments.
Serum total proteins, albumin, globulin, urea-N, and creatinine were not significantly affected, while the total lipids, cholesterol level and triglycerides were significantly(P<0.05) decreased. The serum minerals (Na, K, Ca and P) were significantly (P<0.05) increased in lambs treated with Tafla clay comparing with the control group under the summer heat stress.
Keywords
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