Performance of Awassi Lambs Fed Citrus Pulp and Olive Cake Silage

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of feeding different home made silages on performance of fattening lambs and nutrients digestibility. Sixteen uniform males of Awassi lambs were used in feeding trial that was lasted for 77 days. The trial was followed by a 6-day digestion trial. Lambs were divided into four experimental groups. Lambs in each group were fed and had free access to water. Three types of silages were prepared using wheat straw (WS), olive cake (OC) and citrus pulp (Cp). The three by-products were respectively used as the following: silage 1, 60/27/13; silage 2, 20/54/26 and 0/48/52, silage 3. The silages were offered to lambs along with fixed amount of a commercial fattening concentrate which was 78% of total rations fed. Performance of lambs was significantly (P&lt;0.05) improved by feeding all three silages. Dry matter intake and daily gain were higher than those in the control treatment. Better performance was associated with feeding silages contained low levels of wheat straw. Cost per kg gains was lower for lambs fed the three types of silages indicating that these by-products are potential livestock feed ingredients. Values of nutrient digestibility was increased (P&lt;0.05) for all types of silages, especially when wheat straw was excluded from the rations. The results of this study indicate that silages of wheat straw, olive cake and citrus pulp can be used for lambs in fattening operations.</p>