The impact of feeding corn dried distillers grains with solubles on milk yield and composition in lactating Awassi ewes and digestibility and N partitioning in Awassi ewe lambs

Abstract

The effect of corn dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) on milk yield, milk composition and body weight (BW) and digestibility were evaluated by using lactating ewe (Exp. 1) and Awassi ewe lambs (Exp. 2). Dietary treatments were (1) no DDGS (CON), (2) 200 gkg −1 DDGS (DDGS200) or (3) 300 gkg −1 DDGS (DDGS300) of dietary dry matter (DM). In Exp. 1, 30 lactating Awassi ewes were randomly assigned to the corresponding diets. Nutrient intakes were determined daily throughout the experiment which lasted for 8 weeks. Body weights of ewes and lambs were measured on days 0, 28 and 56 of the study whilst milk yield and composition were recorded on days 18, 36 and 54. Ewe BW changes were similar amongst treatments. Ewes consuming the DDGS diet showed increased milk production (p