Effect of Complete Diet with or Without Yeast Culture in Sheep

A complete diet with roughage to concentrate ratio of 50:50 was fed to two groups of animals each comprising 5 local non-descript and 5 UAS Breed female sheep. Control group was fed complete diet alone and the test feed was supplemented with live yeast culture @ 5g/day/variation in sheep dry matter intake, body weight gain and feed conversion efficiency were non-significant among the groups. The digestibility of all the nutrients was not affected except organic matter and crude protein, which were significantly (P<0.01) higher in UAS sheep. The digestible crude protein, total digestible nutrient, metabolizable energy intake were non-significant among all the groups except UAS sheep which had significantly (P<0.01) higher intake. The digestibility of forage fiber fractions such as cell content, acid detergent fiber, neutral detergent fiber and hemicellulose did not vary significantly between the groups, whereas cellulose digestibility was significantly (P<0.01) higher in yeast fed group. The pH and ammonia nitrogen were found to be significantly (P<0.01) lower and volatile fatty acids were significantly (P<0.01) higher in yeast fed group. It was concluded that supplementation of yeast culture in complete diet was non beneficial in both local and UAS sheep.