Canola Meal as A new Protein Source for Sheep in Egypt

The present study was carried out in the Experimental Farm of Animal and Poultry Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Assiut University, Egypt. This study aimed to evaluate canola meal (CM) as a new protein source compared with undecorticated cottonseed cake (UCSC) and soybean meal (SBM) by sheep. The study includes two parts as follows: The first part was digestibility trials to evaluate, digestion coefficients, nitrogen balance, feeding value, rumen liquid characteristics and rate of passage for tested rations while the second part was growth trial to evaluate, feed intake, body weight, growth rate, feed conversion ratio and blood constituent. Three animals from each group were slaughtered for carcass characteristics and physiological measurements of gastrointestinal tract. Thyroid gland samples have been taken for pathological study. This study concluded that CM and SBM are better than UCSC as a protein sources for growing lambs. Also, under the circumstances of this study, CM protein could replaced up to 50% of CP of concentrate mixture without negative effects on ruminal fermentation, feed intake and daily gain.... Mehr