1Universidad Autónoma Chapingo, Dirección de Centros Regionales, 56230, México
2Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Unidad Xochimilco, D.F., 04960, México
3Centro Universitario UAEM Amecameca, Licenciatura en Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Amecameca, 56900, México
Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Centro Universitario UAEM Amecameca Licenciatura en Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Amecameca, 56900, México
*Corresponding author: pedro_abel@yahoo.com
#This paper is part of the special issue entitled: Exogenous Enzymes in Animal Nutrition - Benefits and Limitations, Guest Edited by A.Z.M. Salem and N. Odongo, and Editor for Animal Nutrition and Feed Technology, A.K. Pattanaik.
High doses of exogenous fibrolytic enzymes (EFE) were evaluated for their effects on lamb performance and in situ digestibility using a ration with 60% oat straw. Twenty-four lambs were used (25.6±3.05 kg initial weight) and distributed in a completely randomized design with three treatments that consisted of doses of 0, 5 or 10 g of EFE kg−1 DM oat straw. Intake decreased linearly (P<0.04) with increasing doses of EFE, without changing the weight gain, feed conversion, digestibility and ruminal fermentation variables. The results indicate that using high doses of EFE in oat straw based diets did not improve the growth performance and nutrient digestibility in finishing lambs.
Digestibility, Fibrolytic enzymes, Growth performance, Sheep
