​Use of Corn Dried Distillers Grains to Improve Feed Diets for Intensive Lamb Fattening

Abstract

Background: The increasing price of raw materials used in lambs fattening diets imposes to look for cheaper feedstuff able to replace the traditional and more expensive ingredients. This study aimed to investigate the effect of including corn dried distillers grains as a feed ingredient in lambs fattening diet. Methods: The study was performed during the year 2021. Thirty lambs (aged 3 months) were divided randomly into two groups (15 lambs/group). The experiment lasted for 110 days divided in two fattening phases. The groups were fed with diets of compound feed, barley hay and corn silage differentiated by the inclusion level of corn dried distiller’s grain in compound feed. Diets were isoprotein and isoenergetic. Result: The results of this study showed that the inclusion of corn dried distillers grain in lamb’s diets improved feed consumption, feed cost, growth performance and carcass parameters. These results proved that it is an efficient and economical feed ingredient that can be used successfully by farmers in lambs fattening diets as a single source of protein and energy in the compound feed up to 30 kg live weight and as a substitute for sunflower meal, over this body weight.