Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• Kosar Ghezelsefli ¹
• Taghi Ghoorchi ²
• Abdolhakim Toghdory ³
• Mohammad Asadi ¹
• Ayda Teymouri ²

¹ Department of Animal and Poultry nutrition, Animal Science Faculty, Gorgan University of Agricultural Science and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran

² Department of Animal and Poultry nutrition, Animal Science Faculty, Gorgan University of Agricultural Science and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran.

³ Dept. of Animal and poultry Nutrition, Faculty of Animal Science, Gorgan University of Agricultural Science and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran

Abstract

Keywords

• Atabai ewes
• blood parameters
• feeding behavior
• soybean straw
• wheat straw

Main Subjects

• Animal Nutrition and poultry

Extended Abstract

Introduction

Most of the mentioned crop residues are suitable for feeding livestock; however, because of lack of technical-know-how they are considered as waste and are disposed. There are two types residues including field and industrial residues. The residues most commonly used in diet of small ruminant are field residues. Crop residues are fibrous by products that are left in the field after harvesting and include stem, leaves, stover and pod.Using crops by-products led to some advantages such as participating in solving the problem of feed shortage, decrease the cost of feeding and alleviating the pollution problems. By-products from the agro-food industry are of increasing importance, which can alleviate part of feed scarcity and thereby contribute to produce cost-effective animal products. The products from soybean were usually used as human food and the by-products as animal feed. In the field, soybean straw and soybean pod husk are usually left behind as waste when the seeds have been mechanically or manually harvested and trashed. Soybean straw is a major by-product which is composed of stem, leaf and pod husk. The present experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of replacing wheat straw with soybeans on feed consumption, digestibility, feeding behavior and blood and rumen parameters in Atabai ewes

Materials and Methods

    Soybean crop waste plants required for this project were obtained from the agricultural fields of Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources located in Golestan province, and then the soybean plants were transferred to the feed store and after crushing, they were prepared for consumption by sheep. A total of eighteen ewes were assigned randomly to one of three treatment groups, having six animals each, for 6 weeks' experimental period. The dietary treatments included 0, 50% and 100%, substitution of soybean straw instead of wheat straw. The basic ration was adjusted according to the tables of the National Sheep Research Association. The total experimental period in this research was 42 days, which consisted of seven days of habituation to the ration and the conditions. The weight of the ewes was recorded at the beginning and end of the period. Feces and feed samples were collected on days 31 to 33 for three days of each treatment in order to determine digestibility. Digestibility of dry matter and organic matter, NDF (Neutral Detergent fiber), CP (Crude Protein), EE (Ether extract) were calculated using Acid Insoluble Ash (AIA) method, fresh feces were taken by rectal sampling three times every day from each ewe. Blood sampling was done on day 42 and four hours after morning feeding. On the 36th and 37th days, the activities related to the ewes' rumination behavior were carried out 24 hours a day on both days. The time spent for the activities of eating, chewing, ruminating, resting the mouth, drinking water, unconventional behaviors, standing, lying down, visually every five minutes and assuming that the activity has passed in five minutes has also continued for all animals were registered during the day and night hours

 Results

According to the results, dry matter consumption and weight gain of ewes in the second treatment were more than the other two treatments and the feed conversion ratio was also higher. However, from a statistical point of view, the treatments do not have a significant difference in terms of yield and dry matter consumption, also, no significant difference was observed among the experimental treatments in terms of digestibility, in general, there is a significant change in feeding behavior by changing the levels of soybeans in the diets of the treatments. Rumination, eating, chewing, jaw rest, drinking water, abnormal behavior in standing and lying down did not occur, and were not statistically significant (P>0.05). The effect of soybean plant on blood parameters in general, the level of glucose, cholesterol, triglyceride, urea nitrogen, protein, albumin, globulin, in the treatment of 100% soybean plant was less than the control group and the ratio of albumin to globulin did not change (P>0.05). In addition, in the treatment of 50% soy plant, compared to the control group, the amount of glucose, cholesterol, urea nitrogen, globulin decreased and the amount of triglyceride, protein, albumin, and increased compared to globulin (P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: These finding suggest that soybean straw can be used as fodder to replace wheat straw in feeding ewes.

Author Contributions

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All authors contributed equally to the conceptualization of the article and writing of the original and subsequent drafts.

Kosar Ghezelsefli contributed 70%, Taghi Ghoorchi 70%, Abdolhakim Toghdory 30%, Mohammad Asadi 30%, and Ayda Teymour 30% to conceptualizing the article and writing the original and subsequent drafts.

Data Availability Statement

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Acknowledgements

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The authors would like to thank all participants of the present study.

Ethical considerations

    The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of ABCD (Ethical code: IR.UT.RES.2024.500). The authors avoided data fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, and misconduct.

Conflict of interest

     The author declares no conflict of interest.

Conflict of interest

     The author declares no conflict of interest.