Comparative feed management system in sheep fed different physical forms of ration containing Ipomoea aquatica on the performance, rumen characteristics, and chewing activity.

Objective: This study investigated the effectiveness of different physical forms of feed containing Ipomoea aquatica waste and concentrate feed on the rumen characteristics, chewing activity, and performance of sheep. Materials and Methods: Twenty-four rams (19.87 ± 2.19 kg) were arranged in a completely randomized design. Rams were fed dried I. aquatica waste and concentrate feed provided separately (RCF) (conventional feeding system), and total mixed ration consisted of mash complete feed (MCF), and pelleted complete feed (PCF). The data were analyzed using a one-way analysis of variance. Results: The dry matter intake (DMI), average daily gain, and feed conversion ratio of rams fed different physical forms of feed containing I. aquatica waste in their diet were similar between the treatments, ranging from 4.08% to 4.29% of body weight, 120-180 gm, and 6.32-9.17, respectively. Different physical feeds did not affect microbial synthesis in the rumen. Methane emissions per unit of production were similar between the groups. The PCF sheep ate faster (0.24 min/gm DMI) than the MCF sheep (0.38 min/gm DMI), but similar to the RCF sheep (0.31 min/gm DMI). Conclusion: Dried I. aquatica waste was useful as an alternative lamb feed roughage during the dry season. The pelleted mixed ration was more efficient than mash in increasing DMI. The dried I. aquatica waste was environmentally friendly for mitigating enteric methane emissions by sheep.

Productivity and carcass characteristics of lambs fed fibrous agricultural wastes to substitute grass.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Grass is often scarce for ruminants during the dry season in Indonesia; thus agricultural by-products are widely used as a substitute for grass. This study aimed to determine the effect of replacing Napier grass (NG) with agricultural by-products on the productivity and carcass characteristics of lambs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-four 3-month-old male lambs with initial body weights of 13.26±1.29 kg (coefficient of variation=9.73%) were allocated into a completely randomized design with four treatments and six replications. The treatments included: NG=100% NG; corn cobs (CCs)=50% NG and 50% CCs; bagasse (BG)=50% NG and 50% BG; and peanut shells (PSs)=50% NG and 50% PSs. All treatment diets were pelleted and consisted of 40% fibrous feed and 60% concentrate feed, and contained 10.36-11.65% crude protein and 55.47-57.31% total digestible nutrients. Parameters observed included dry matter intake (DMI), dry matter digestibility, body weight gain (BWG), feed conversion ratio (FCR), feed cost per gain (FC/G), and carcass characteristics. RESULTS: Lambs fed the PSs diet had the highest (p<0.05) DMI (781 g/d), digestibility, and body weight gain (92.5 g/d; p<0.05). The FCR of the PSs diet (9.13) was similar to NG. The FC/G of the PSs diet (IDR 23,541/kg) was the lowest of all diets. The BG diet had the lowest (p<0.05) digestibility, body weight gain (54.4 g/d), and the highest (13.53) FCR. No significant differences (p>0.05) were found in the carcass or meat characteristics of any diets. The averages of slaughter weight, carcass weight, and carcass percentage were 20.03 kg, 8.02 kg, and 40.0%, respectively. The average meat bone ratio was 3.67. CONCLUSION: It was concluded that agricultural wastes could be used as an alternative to NG at the level of 50% in the diet of lambs without a negative effect on production performance and carcass traits.

Effect of insulin-like growth factor 1 gene on growth traits of Kejobong goat and its growth analysis.

AIM: This study aimed to identify the effect of the insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) gene on growth, to uncover the genetic marker at the IGF1 gene, and to predict growth performance by analyzing growth models of Kejobong goats based on their genotype. MATERIALS AND METHODS: DNA and records of body weight (BW) and body measurements (BM) of Kejobong goats were collected, the IGF1 gene was amplified from the DNA template by polymerase chain reaction (PCR); the PCR products were then sequenced to determine single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP). Linear mixed model (LMM) was used to analyze the association between SNP and growth traits. Four non-linear growth models were analyzed using non-LMM to describe the growth model and to compare the growth within genotypes. RESULTS: An SNP at intron 4 (g5752G→C) genotyped into GG and CC was significantly associated with BW and BM. Goats of genotype GG had a significantly higher BW and BM (p<0.05) than those of genotype CC. Growth analysis showed that the von Bertalanffy model was the most fit for describing BW, the Brody model for chest width and hip height, the Gompertz and Logistic models for heart girth, and the von Bertalanffy and Gompertz models for hip width. CONCLUSION: An SNP at intron 4 of the IGF1 gene was associated with the growth trait and was usable as a genetic marker candidate for improvement of growth traits of Kejobong goats while von Bertalanffy model provides proper and accurate estimates of parameters to describe the growth performance of Kejobong goats.

The effect of dietary protein levels on body weight gain, carcass production, nitrogen emission, and efficiency of productions related to emissions in thin-tailed lambs.

AIM: This study was aimed to evaluate dietary crude protein (CP) level on performance of body weight (BW) gain, carcass production, and nitrogen emission on lambs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 12 male thin-tailed lambs (15.2±1.8 kg initial BW and aged 3-4 months) were assigned to completely randomized design for 84-day feeding trial. The animals were divided into three different levels of CP (i.e., 14%, 16%, and 18% with isocaloric diets and 60% total digestible nutrients) with four replications. RESULTS: Increasing CP level was not significantly affected on average daily gain (ADG), carcass production, N and N2O emissions, and efficiency of emissions related to the productions. The average of ADG, carcass production, meat production, meat protein production, N emission, and N2O emission was 141.4 g, 11.6 kg, 6.8 kg, 0.9 kg, 53.1 g/day, and 0.3 g/day, respectively. The efficiency of ADG, carcass production, meat production, and meat protein related to N emissions were 119.7 g/kg, 4.4 g/kg, 2.5 g/kg, and 56.6 g/kg, respectively, while N2O emissions related to ADG, carcass production, meat production, and meat protein were 2.4 g/kg, 0.027 g/kg, 0.36 g/kg, and 0.34 g/kg, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: It can be concluded that the increase of CP level up to 18% did not affect productivity, N emissions, and efficiency of emissions per unit product because the increase of CP was not balanced by energy content in feed.

Amino acid sequence based on Cytochrome b gene in Kejobong goat and its genetic relationships among several local goats in Asia.

AIM: This study aimed to analyze the amino acid sequence of Cytochrome b (Cyt b) gene in Kejobong goat and its genetic relationships with local goats located in Asia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 28 heads of Kejobong goat were purposively sampled. The deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was extracted from blood using gSYNC DNA mini kit (Geneaid Biotech Ltd.). Cyt b gene was amplified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method with CytbCapF and CytbCapR primers. The amplified PCR products were sequenced for further analysis. RESULTS: There were a total 377 amino acid sequences translated from 1140 base pair (bp) of Cyt b gene, 99.20% of it were monomorphic, amino acid alterations were found at site 16th, 121st, and 231st, and Kejobong goat was in the same cluster with Southeast Asian local goats. CONCLUSION: Most of the amino acid sequence on Cyt b gene in Kejobong goat is monomorphic (99.20%), only a few nucleotide mutations were found that causing amino acid alteration in three sites (0.80%). Kejobong goat has a close genetic relationship to several local goats in Southeast Asian.