Substituting Bread By-product for Barley Grain in Fattening Diets for Baladi Kids

The objectives of this study were to determine the effects of substituting bread by-product (BBP) for barley grain in high concentrate fattening diets for kids on nutrient intake, growth performance, and nutrient digestibility. Twenty-eight Baladi kids (body weight=17.1${\pm}$1.0 kg) were assigned randomly to 4 experimental finishing diets (7 kids/treatment) in a completely randomized design for 70 days. The control (CON) diet contained 20, 60, 11, 7 and 2% (DM basis) alfalfa hay, barley grain, soybean meal, corn grain, and mineral and vitamin mix, respectively. Bread by-product substituted barley grain by 10, 20 and 30% of the diet DM in the LBBP, MBBP, and HBBP diets, respectively. Dry matter intakes for the CON, LBBP and MBBP diets were similar (p>0.05; avg.=592 g/day), however, kids fed the HBBP diet had a lower (p<0.05) DM intake (451 g/day). Organic matter and CP intakes showed similar patterns to that observed for DM. Dietary treatments did not affect (p>0.05) average daily gain for kids fed the CON, LBBP and MBBP diets (avg.=150 g/day). Final body weights for kids fed the CON, LBBP and MBBP diets (avg. 27.1 kg) were greater (p<0.05) than for kids fed the HBBP diet (23.7 kg). Feed to gain ratio was greater for the CON, LBBP and MBBP diets (avg. 3.9) compared with the HBBP diet (5.0). No significant (p>0.05) effect of the dietary treatment was observed for DM, OM and NDF digestibility. Substituting BBP for barley grain up to 20% of the diet DM did not affect nutrient intake, growth performance and nutrient digestibility of kids and resulted in a decrease in feed cost.