Ozone-treated cotton stalks as a component of a ration for growing lambs

Abstract

Lambs of the Assaf dairy breed were assigned at 23-24 kg liveweight to one of three nutritional treatments: I, a high-energy concentrate mixture (CD); II, a diet in which 40% of the concentrate was replaced by a 1:1 mixture of untreated cotton stalks (CS) and poultry litter (UT-CS); III, as II, but the CS were treated with ozone gas (O3-TCS). The diets were fed ad libitum for 42-65 days until the lambs reached approximately 40 kg liveweight. The average daily liveweight gains were 226 g, 298 g and 395 g for the UT-CS, O3-TCS and CD rations, respectively. The better performance of the O3-TCS group of lambs, as compared with the UT-CS group, was the result of a 9.6% higher feed intake and 16.2% more efficient utilization of the diet. It was calculated that a 1:1 mixture of O3-treated CS and poultry litter could save 18.2% of the concentrates needed to raise lambs to 41.2 kg liveweight. © 1992.