This study was conducted to investigate the effect of feeding dry rumen content (DRC) at different levels on nutrient intake, digestibility and growth performance of Awassi lambs. Twelve Awassi lambs (22.27±0.25 kg body weight and 4 months old) were randomly allotted into four diets for 65 days. The DRC was included in the diets at 0 % (DRC0), 10% (DRC10), 20% (DRC20), 30% (DRC30) to replace parts of the barley grain and soybean meal in the concentrate diet. On the day 60 of the experimental period, all lambs were fitted with fecal collection bags to evaluate the nutrient digestibility. Intake of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM) and Metabolizable energy (ME) were not affected (P>0.05) in lambs fed DRC10 and DRC20 diets compared to those fed DRC0 (control) diet but decreased (P<0.05) in lambs fed DRC30 diet. Intake of CP (g/day) was higher (P<0.05) in lambs fed DRC10 and DRC20 diet than those fed DRC30 diet, but not significant difference (P>0.05) than those fed control one (DRC0) while, intake of CP (g/kg W 0.75 ) did not differ (P>0.05) among diets. Intakes of neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) were highest (P<0.01) for lambs fed the DRC30 diet followed by the DRC20 and DRC10 than those fed DRC0. No significant different in DM, OM, CP, NDF and ADF digestibility. Total gain and average daily gain (ADG) in lambs fed DRC10 and DRC 20 diets were not significant (P>0.05) different as compared with lambs fed DRC0 (control) diet but they were decreased (P<0.05) when lambs fed DRC30 diet. Lambs fedDRC10 diet was higher(P<0.05) in feed efficiency than those fed DRC30, but no significant (P>0.05) difference than those fed DRC0 and DRC20 diets. It could be concluded that feeding Awassi lambs diets containing DRC up to 10% improved growth performance without any adverse effect on nutrient digestibility or animal health.

The study was conducted at the period of 22/1/2018 to 13/1/2019 by using 82 Awassi ewes in late gestation period to determine the combined effect of melatonin receptor gene polymorphism (MTNRA1) three doses of vitamin E on litter size and lambs weight at birth and weaning. Results showed a significant effect (P<0.05) of MTNRA1 polymorphism on liter size , the highest value was noticed in ewes with CC genotype while the lowest value was in ewes with TT genotype namely,1.184 and 1.137 lamb respectively. Litter size were affected significantly (P<0.05) by vitamin E supplementation, the higher litter size was noticed in ewes that injected with 450IU/ week namely, 1.24lamb. Body weight of lambs at birth and weaning and average weight gain from birth to weaning differed significantly according to vitamin E supplementation. Significant differences (P<0.05) among combinations on all traits that studded. Ewes with CC or CT and supplemented of 900IU of vitamin E were the highest liter size (1.24 lamb). The ewes with genotype CC and supplemented 450IU of vitamin recorded the highest body weight of lambs at birth, body weight of lambs at weaning and average weight gain from birth to weaning namely, 4.30, 16.84 and 12.54 kg respectively.

No abstract

The experiment was investigated the effects of degradability crude protein on some blood parameters of ruminants, two experiments were conducted for three sources dietary crude protein: Soya, whey protein and urea. First experiment, soya was replaced with whey protein, while second experiment, soya was replaced with urea. Fifteen male lambs were used for each experiment and randomly distributed to five treatments T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5. Concentrated was fed at 3% of body weight as DM basis, while alfalfa was fed ad-libitum. Jugular blood was sampled from lambs after 90 days of experiment before feeding morning. Results of replacing soya with whey protein showed decreased blood protein and cholesterol, while, blood urea was increased and blood glucose had a linear increase with increasing whey protein intake, 45.75, 48.5, 52.5, 66.0 and 89.75 mg/dl for T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5. In second experiment, the results of replacing soya with urea showed decreased blood glucose and cholesterol for 2% urea in contrast with control, while blood urea was increased for 2% urea 36.11 mg/dl in contrast with 22.73mg/dl for control. In concluded, feeding high soluble crude proteins, decreased cholesterol and increased blood urea nitrogen.

The objective of the current study was to compare puberty and sexual maturity in Iraqi Jenoubi bulls and heifers that were fed date palm pollen (DPP) in their diets. Ten Jenoubi heifers and ten bulls, 6-month-old were divided randomly into two treatments: DPP treatment (T1) supplemented with 2 g of DPP/ head/day and control treatment (T2) was not supplemented with DPP. In heifers, the overall mean value of control group was significantly lower (27.53, 0.96 ng/ml and 9.44 pg/ml) than treatment group (70.42, 18.27 ng/ml and 19.16 pg/ml) for FSH, LH and estrogen, respectively in puberty period. Similar trend was noticed for hormone concentrations (FSH, LH, Estrogen and Testosterone) for bulls at puberty and maturity age. In bulls, T1 was significantly higher (155 and 212.5 kg) than control group (139.5 and 196 kg) for body weight in puberty and maturity age respectively, and in heifers T1 was significantly higher (150.33 and 206.66 kg) than control group (142 and 198.66 kg) for body weight in puberty and maturity age respectively, and same trend was observed for body condition score (BCS). It can be concluded that adding date palm pollen to ration of heifers and bulls accelerates puberty and maturity in heifers and bulls. But the acceleration in heifers was more than in bulls.