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Effect of Replacing Alfalfa Hay with Common Vetch Hay in Sheep Diets on Growth Performance, Rumen Fermentation and Rumen Microbiota.

Chunhuan RenXiaoan ZhangHuiqing WeiSunze WangWenjie WangLi HeYuan LuKefan ZhangZi-Jun ZhangGuanjun WangYafeng Huang
Published in: Animals : an open access journal from MDPI (2024)
The aim of this study was to determine whether the inclusion of 40% of common vetch (CV) hay as a feed ingredient in place of alfalfa hay (AH) would improve performance and ruminal fermentation and microbiota in fattening lambs. Twenty lambs were equally divided into two groups: control group (fed 40% AH with 20% rice straw) and CV group (fed 40% CV hay with 20% rice straw). Concerning hay quality, CV hay had greater in vitro digestibility of dry matter and neutral detergent fiber ( p < 0.05) than AH. Lambs fed the CV diet had a higher average daily gain (ADG) and efficiency of feed and economy than lambs fed the control group. The NH 3 -N content and estimated methane produced per unit of ADG of the CV diet group were significantly lower ( p < 0.05) than control group. Multiple differential microbial genera were identified, with Prevotella being the most dominant genus and a tendency towards higher ( p = 0.095) in lambs offered CV diet. The higher Ruminococcus abundance ( p < 0.05) was found in animals of the CV group compared to the control group. In summary, CV can be incorporated into lamb diets as a low-cost forage alternative to AH to improve feed efficiency and animal performance and to reduce methane produced per unit of ADG.
Keyphrases
  • weight loss
  • physical activity
  • low cost
  • anaerobic digestion
  • heavy metals
  • quality improvement
  • metal organic framework