Wheat germ meal replaces cottonseed meal at different levels in diets of Ossimi lambs: Impact on growth performance, feed utilization and economic efficiency.

This experiment aimed to evaluate the replacement of cottonseed meal (CSM) with wheat germ meal (WGM) in diets of growing lambs on feed utilization and growth performance. Twenty-eight Ossimi male lambs (38 ± 0.8 kg weight), and 180 ± 5 days were divided randomly into four experimental groups in a complete randomized design for 105 days. Cottonseed meal was replaced with WGM at 0 (WGM0 treatment), 50 (WGM50 treatment), 75 (WGM75 treatment) and 100% (WGM100 treatment). The chemical analysis of the total essential and non-essential amino acids showed an increase at the WGM diet compared to CSM. The replacement of CSM with WGM linearly and quadratically improved (p ˂ 0.05) lambs' growth performance and feed conversion. The WGM50 and WGM100 treatments lowered (p ˂ 0.05) feed intake, without affecting nutrient digestibility or diets' nutritive. Feeding WGM increased (p ˂ 0.05) total protein, albumin, and urea-N concentrations in blood of lambs. The WGM100 treatment showed the highest relative percentage of net revenue compared to the other treatments. It is concluded that the complete replacement of CSM with WGM showed positive effects on lambs' performance and economic efficiency.

Influence of substituting soybean meal with moringa seed cake on feed intake, growth performance, digestibility, blood parameters and economics of fattening crossbred calves.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of substitution moringa seed cake (MSC) for soybean meal (SBM) in calves' rations on blood parameters and growth performance. Thirty-two crossbred calves (232 ± 6.75 kg) were divided into 4 groups (8 animals each). All animals were fed a ration of 30% Egyptian clover + 10% corn silage and 60% concentrate mix (CM). The first group (MSC0%) was fed the CM without any MSC (control), while the second (MSC25%), the third (MSC50%), and the fourth (MSC100%) groups were fed on 25%, 50% and 100% MSC by replacing SBM in CM respectively. Results revealed that MSC50% increased (P ≤0.05) most of nutritive values and digestibility compared with the tested groups. Also, MSC50% reduced (P ≤0.05) feed conversion of dry matter (DM), total digestible nutrient (TDN) and digestible energy (DE) compared to the tested groups. Also, MSC50% increased the total weight gain and net revenue by 13.50% and 22.75%, respectively, compared to control. While MSC100% lowered the total weight gain and net revenue by -7.67% and -4.20%, respectively, compared to control. Total protein and glucose were increased (P ≤0.05) by rations with 25% and 50% MSC compared with MSC (0% and100%). Moreover, adding MSC to animals' rations at different levels improved most of blood metabolites compared to control. Conclusion, moringa seed cake can be used as an alternative protein source to soybean meal in fattening calves rations at level up to 50% to improve growth performance and net profit without adverse effects.