| This study focus on the effect of eucommia ulmoides leaves on the feeds utilization efficiency and growth and slaughtering performance in sheep from two experiments.Experiment ?: The effect of eucommia ulmoides leaves(EUL)on feed utilization on sheep,and experiment II: The effects of eucommia ulmoides leaves on the performance of growth and slaughter.In experiment ?,we selected 15 sheep(include male and female equally)at similar age and weight and divided them into three groups randomly,each group including 5 sheep,which were regarded as control group(no EUL was used,CTL),low EUL group(containing 10% EUL in the diet,EUL?)and high EUL group(containing 20% EUL in the diet,EUL?).The feed utilization efficiency was determined by digestion and metabolism method in the special cages.Feeds and water was given through the box and basin fixed on the front of the cage.The sheep in the cages can eat feeds and drink water ad libitum,and move around in the cage freely.The sample of feeds was collected from the fresh TMR feeds and the remained feeds collected after eating.The feces was sampled by 10% after collecting all of the feces in the cages via an automatic gathering device,and urine was also sampled by 10% from the collection volume of the total urine gathered via an automatic plastic bag.The indices,such as,energy,nitrogen,crude ash,calcium and phosphorus in the feeds,feces and urine were detected.The efficiency of the ingredients were calculated.The results showed that:(1)Energy digestion ratio for the three groups were 50.54±2.52% in CTL,54.89±2.13% in EUL? and 43.88±0.65% in EUL?,respectively.There is no significant difference between CTL and EUL?(P>0.05),but there is a significant difference between EUL? and CTL(P<0.05),or between EUL? and CTL(P<0.05).The energy utilization efficiency in the three group were 49.16±2.57%,53.48±2.12% and 41.61±0.25%,respectively.There is no difference between EUL? and CTL(P>0.05),but the difference between CTL and EUL?(increased by 18.14%),or between EUL? and EUL?(increased by 28.53%)were significantly(P<0.05).(2)Nitrogen digestion ratio in CTL,EUL? and EUL? was 55.80±1.94%,55.77±0.94% and 41.46±1.14%,respectively.There is no difference between EUL? and CTL(P>0.05).The value of EUL? decreased by 25.70%,25.66% compared with CTL and EUL?,they are all different markedly(P<0.05).Nitrogen deposit ratio from diet in the three groups was 33.67±2.63%,33.62±4.31% and 21.67±3.53%,the difference between EUL? and CTL was not significantly(P>0.05).The difference between EUL ? and CTL or between EUL ? and EUL ? was significantly(P<0.05).(3)For the crude ash,though the mount of ash digested in EUL ? was significantly high compared with EUL? or CTL(P<0.05),their digestion ratio to feed intake was not significant,for the value is 18.97±1.55% in CTL,24.03±2.37% in EUL? and 25.98±1.67% in EUL?,there is an increasing tendency in the three groups(0.05<P<0.1).(4)For calcium and phosphorus utilization,the digestion ratio and deposit ratio of calcium and phosphorus are not difference significantly(P>0.05).The value of digestion ratio for calcium was 35.86±2.21%,32.44±4.11%,39.35±6.50% in CTL,EUL? and EUL?,for phosphorus digestion ratio was 49.26±2.13%,52.03±2.08% and 49.90±3.60%,respectively.The deposit ratio for calcium was 33.18±1.79%,30.13±4.08%,36.86±6.49%,for phosphorus was 38.52±1.63%,41.08±2.28%,39.36±3.70%,respectively.In the experiment II,we selected 30 sheep(male and female equally)at similar age(4 to 6 months)and weight(from 28-30kg).After randomized into three groups of 10 sheep and reared in pens separately each group.The sheep were allocated three kinds of feeds as described above.The ration were mixed using TMR machine and assigned to the sheep group twice daily.Each day,the remained feeds were collected and weighted to calculate the feed intake.The experiment sheep were weighted semimonthly to calculate the growth rate in 90 days,such as body weight gain,daily gain and feeds to gain ratio,etc.When the feeding period was finished,all the sheep were weighted and selected 5 sheep form each group for slaughtering.The slaughter was conducted according to the general standard method.Each of the section were weighted and calculated the slaughtering indices,such as carcass weight,meat weight,bone weight,dressing percentage,meat to bone ratio,and carcass net muscle percentage,etc.The results showed that the body weight gain in the three groups was 10.69±1.15 kg,14.60±1.45 kg,12.92±1.74 kg in CTL,EUL? and EUL?,the EUL groups were significantly greater than control group(P<0.05),but the two EUL groups are not differ significantly.As to the daily gain,the value of the three groups were 118.70±6.86 g/d,156.50±12.58 g/d and 143.50±8.67 g/d,EUL?and EUL? were much greater than CTL(P<0.05)which increased by 31.84% and 20.89%,respectively,while EUL? and EUL? were not differ significantly each other(P>0.05).Feeds to gain ratio in the three groups were 8.90±0.56: 1,7.99±0.67:1 and 7.88±0.44: 1,EUL groups were reduced by 10.22% and 11.46% compared with CTL,but they were not different significantly(P>0.05).As to the slaughter performance,though the pre-slaughter live weight of the three groups were increasing tendency,the dressing percentage in the three groups showed downward trend,the value in the three groups were 49.53±1.33%,45.59±0.93% and 46.19±1.29%,respectively.The carcass net muscle percentage in the three groups were 80.89±0.46%,82.09±0.78% and 79.59±1.42%,which were not differ significantly(P>0.05).Other slaughtering performance indicators,such as carcass weight,meat weight,bone weight and meat to bone ratio in the three groups were not different significantly either(P>0.05).All of the indicators above pointed to that eucommia ulmoides leaves could promote sheep feed intake,body weight gain,increasing feed utilization efficiency and reducing feed consumption without affecting its slaughtering performance. |
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