title: Diet inclusion of devil fish (Plecostomus spp.) silage and its impacts on ruminal fermentation and growth performance of growing lambs in hot regions of Mexico.
abstract: The aim of this study was to evaluate the inclusion of devil fish (Plecostomus spp.-DF) silage in Criollo × Blackbelly lamb diets in hot region of Guerrero state of Mexico. Rumen fermentation including pH, volatile fatty acids (VFA) and ammonia-N (NH3-N) and productive variables including feed intake (FI), average daily gain (ADG), and feed conversion were determined. Twenty lambs with 18 ± 1.2 kg body weight in a completely randomized design were fed a total mixed ration (TMR) of concentrate (based on soybean meal, whole oat hay, ground corn cob, vitamins-minerals supplement) with DF silage at 0 % (DF0), 9 % (DF9), 18 % (DF18), and 27 % (DF27) of the TMR for 75 days. The ruminal pH showed no difference (P > 0.05) between treatments: ranging between 6.21 and 6.36. Propionic acid molar proportions showed an irregular pattern between experimental groups, which only differed (P < 0.05) between DF9 and DF27, without differences between the other treatments. A greater molar proportion of butyric acid was noted (P < 0.05) in DF27 when compared to the other treatments. The ruminal concentration of NH3-N showed some insignificant differences (P > 0.05) among treatments. The daily FI was increased (P < 0.01) in DF27 (1.131 g) when compared with DF0, while DF9 and DF18 showed intermediate consumption with no differences (P > 0.05) among them. The ADG showed only difference (cubic effect, P = 0.02) between DF9 and DF18. The highest feed conversion was observed (cubic effect, P < 0.01) with DF18, with a value of 4.7 kg of feed to gain 1 kg of body weight. It could be concluded that the inclusion of up to 18 % of DF silage in the TMR of growing lamb diets, in hot regions of Mexico, may improve productive performance and ruminal fermentation kinetics, without any negative effects.
authors: Unidad Académica de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Universidad Autónoma de Guerrero, P.O. 40660, Altamirano, México.
authors: Eduardo
authors: E
authors: Tejeda-Arroyo
authors: Moisés
authors: M
authors: Cipriano-Salazar
authors: Luis Miguel
authors: LM
authors: Camacho-Díaz
authors: Abdelfattah Zeidan Mohamed
authors: AZ
authors: Salem
authors: Ahmed Eid
authors: AE
authors: Kholif
authors: Mona Mohamed Mohamed Yasseen
authors: MM
authors: Elghandour
authors: Nicolas
authors: N
authors: DiLorenzo
authors: Blas
authors: B
authors: Cruz-Lagunas
mesh_terms: D000824:Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D005285:Fermentation; D005399:Fishes; D006358:Hot Temperature; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico; D012417:Rumen / Q000378:metabolism*; D012756:Sheep / Q000502:physiology*; D012820:Silage / Q000032:analysis*