Effect of Wheat Substitution for Some Maize on Growth Performance,Apparent Digestibility and Serum Biochemical Parameters in Tibetan Sheep
The aim of this experiment was to investigate the effects of replacing some maize in the concentrate with wheat on growth performance,apparent digestibility,serum biochemical indices and organ development of Tibet-an sheep.Sixty Tibetan sheep of similar initial weight and healthy and disease-free at 2 to 3 months of age were ran-domly divided into 2 groups of 30 sheep each with 5 replicates in each group.The control group was fed a maize based diet,and the experimental group was fed with 10%wheat as a replacement for some of the maize in the con-centrate.The results indicated that,1)the final weight,mean daily gain,body length and body mass index of the experimental group were significantly higher than those of the control group(P<0.05);2)the apparent digestibility of crude protein,crude fibre,neutral detergent fibre,acid detergent fibre and crude ash of the experimental group were significantly higher than those of the control group(P<0.05);3)the apparent digestibility of cereal grass transami-nase of the experimental group was significantly lower than that of the control group(P<0.05).(P<0.05);4)Ru-men mass and wrinkled stomach mass of the experimental group were significantly higher than those of the control group(P<0.05).Therefore,The mass fraction of 10%wheat flour to the diet of Tibetan sheep to replace some of the maize in the concentrate can effectively improve the apparent digestibility of Tibetan sheep,thus increasing the utilisation of their diet and improving their growth performance and organ weights,as well as reducing the serum glutamic transami-nase content and thus improving liver function to maintain normal digestion and metabolism in Tibetan sheep.
Tibetan sheepnutrition regulationwheatgrowth and developmentnutrient digestibilityserum bio-chemical index