The effect of nutritional and fermentational characteristics of grass and legume silages on feed intake, growth performance and blood indices of lambs

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of feeding silage made from different plant species to lambs. The experimental materials comprised 24 Kamieniec rams weaned at 70 days of age, allocated into one of three groups, and offered ad libitum three types of silage: red clover silage (RC), alfalfa silage (ALF), grass silage (GR). All lambs also received 0.5 kg ground barley per animal per day and 12.5 g mineral–vitamin premix per animal per day. The animals were kept in individual pens throughout a 60-day experimental period. The growth rate and selected blood biochemical indices of lambs were determined. On day 60, the greatest (34.7 kg) and the least (31.8 kg) body weights of lambs were from groups ALF and GR, respectively ( P ≤ 0.01). The difference between groups RC and GR was also significant. The nutritional regime had no effect on blood parameters, whereas lambs fed legume silages were characterized by increased blood glucose levels, decreased total blood protein levels ( P ≤ 0.05) and greater urea concentrations ( P ≤ 0.01), compared with lambs receiving grass silage. Lambs offered legume silages showed better growth performance, in comparison with those offered grass silage, which resulted from greater intake and supply of metabolizable energy and protein from alfalfa silage, and more effective utilization of nutrients contained in red clover silage.