RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: In recent years, dietary fat supplementation has become a common practice and fat supplemented diets have had variable effects on animal performance and carcass characteristics.
OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to determine the effect of increasing the levels of sesame oil on performance, rumen parameters and plasma lipid profile in finishing Chal lambs.
METHODS: Eighteen male lambs were fed with control [C; without sesame oil] and the diets contained low level [LSO; 2.5%] and high level [HSO; 5%] of sesame oil.
RESULTS: The addition of fat had no effect on dry matter intake [DMI], average daily gain [ADG], feed conversion ratio [FCR] and carcass weight. Treatments with sesame oil had no effect on rumen ammonia concentration and total protozoal count. Ruminal pH was numerically smaller [p=0.14] for control compared to lambs fed diets containing 2.5 and 5% sesame oil. Treatments had no effect on total VFA, acetate, butyrate, valerate and isovalerate concentrations. The propionate concentration decreased [p=0.04] by supplementation of sesame oil compared with the control. Total cholesterol [TC] and HDL increased and the tendency for VLDL and triglyceride [p=0.13] to increase was observed by treatment groups when compared with the control. Glucose concentration and LDL were not affected by treatment.
CONCLUSIONS: Sesame oil had no effect on the performance and carcass weight of lambs but there was decrease in blood cholesterol concentration.
RESUMEN
The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of bacterial inoculation on the fermentation and aerobic stability of corn silage and on the dry matter degradability and milk composition when fed to sheep or cows. Four male sheep were selected to measure dry matter degradability of uninoculated [UCS] and inoculated [ICS] corn silage. Milk composition was measured for 22 Holstein cows, separated into two treatment groups and fed with either UCS or ICS diets. Similar lactic acid concentrations but higher propionic and lower acetic acid concentrations were recorded for ICS diets compared to UCS diets [p < 0.05]. Aerobic stability was 12 h and 32 h for UCS and ICS, respectively. Values of in sacco dry matter loss were higher for ICS than for UCS [p < 0.05]. Lactose and solid non-fat content was higher in the milk of cows fed with ICS than UCS [p < 0.05]. We conclude that the Lalsil bacterial inoculant containing propioni bacterium acidipropionici andLactobacillusplantarum can be used as an additive due to its positive effect on fermentation, aerobic stability and dry matter degradability of corn silage. The slight positive effect of inoculcation on the nutritional value of silage appears to be limited to milk production improvement in dairy cows