• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.377-381
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• 2002

The growth rate, feed conversion efficiency and carcass characteristics of nine native Malpura (M) and eight Awassi ${\times}$ Malpura half bred (AM) male lambs were compared under intensive feeding on 60:40 concentrate and roughage based composite feed. Weaning body weight was similar in the two genetic groups while finishing body weight, total body weight gain and average daily gain during the experiment were higher (p<0.01) in AM than M lambs. The feed conversion efficiency was lower in M than AM lambs with 15.7 and 19.8 per cent feed conversion efficiency, respectively, in the two genetic groups. The dressing yield in terms of preslaughter weight or empty live weight was however similar in the two genetic groups. The loin eye area was also greater (p<0.01) in AM than M lambs. The cutability was similar for the two groups amounting to 33.2, 13.3, 13.2, 23.3 and 16.6% of half carcass, respectively, for leg, loin, rack, neck and shoulder and breast and foreshank. On an average the separable lean, fat and KOH bone content of the half carcass were 48.3, 16.8 and 23.3% for native M and 54.1, 15.0 and 19.0% for AM lambs, respectively. It is concluded that growth rate and feed conversion efficiency were better in Awassi ${\times}$ Malpura half bred than native Malpura lambs while dressing yield and cutability of standard cuts were similar in the two genetic groups.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.661-667
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• 2013

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of partial replacement of wheat hay with sun-dried (SOC) or acid-treated SOC (ASOC) olive cake on nutrient intake and performance of Awassi lambs. An additional objective was to study the effects of acid treatment of olive cake (OC) on its chemical composition and nutritive value. On DM basis, sun-drying of OC did not dramatically affect its chemical composition. On the other hand, treating SOC with phosphoric acid decreased (p<0.05) SOC contents of neutral detergent fiber. Twenty seven male lambs ($17.6{\pm}0.75$ kg body weight) individually housed in shaded pens were randomly assigned to one of three dietary treatments (9 lambs/treatment). Dietary treatments were formulated to be isocaloric and isonitrogenous by replacing 50% of wheat hay in the control diet (CTL) with SOC or ASOC and to meet all nutrient requirements. Dietary treatments had no effects on nutrient intake or digestibility except for ether extract. Lambs fed the SOC diet had (p = 0.05) faster growth rate, greater final body weight, and greater total body weight gain in comparison with the CTL diet, but not different from the ASOC diet. Additionally, lambs fed the SOC diet had greater (p = 0.03) hot and cold carcass weights than the ASOC diet, but not different from the CTL diet. However, feed conversion ratios and dressing percentages were similar among dietary treatments. In conclusion, replacing half of dietary wheat hay with SOC improved performance of Awassi lambs with no detrimental effects on nutrients intake or digestibility. No further improvements in the nutritive value of SOC and lambs performance were detected when SOC was treated with acid.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.831-837
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• 2008

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of ruminally-protected methionine supplementation (0, 7, or 14 g/head/d) on nutrient intake, digestibility, growth performance, carcass, and meat characteristics of Awassi ram lambs fed finishing diets. Twenty four Awassi ram lambs ($16.8{\pm}1.17kg$ body weight) were randomly assigned to 3 treatment diets (8 lambs/treatment) and housed in individual pens. Lambs were given an adaptation period of 7 days before the intensive feeding period that lasted for 86 days. On day 74 of the trial, a digestibility experiment was performed. At the end of the trial (d 86), all lambs were slaughtered to evaluate carcass characteristics and meat quality. Increasing the level of methionine supplementation did not improve (p>0.05) performance nor feed conversion ratio. Nutrient intake and digestibilities were not influenced (p>0.05) by methionine supplementation. There were no differences in final weight, hot and cold carcass weights, dressing percentages or any of the measured non-carcass components. Tissues and fat depth measurements together with all meat quality attributes measured on longissimus muscle of the loin cut were not affected by methionine supplementation. The only meat quality parameters affected were redness (a*) and the hue angle being higher for the control group (p<0.05). These results suggest that methionine supplementation is not likely to produce any production benefits in nutrient digestibilities, performance or carcass characteristics of ram lambs fed a high performance diet.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.8
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• pp.1080-1087
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• 2004

A trial with twenty-four newly weaned Awassi lambs (initial body weight=21.5$\pm$0.8 kg) was conducted using a 3$\times$2 factorial design to study the effect of feeding three sources of protein supplements (soybean meal (SBM), sunflower seed meal (SSM), and cottonseed meal (CSM)), either untreated or formaldehyde-treated on the growth performance and carcass traits of Awassi lambs. Lambs were randomly assigned to one of the six diets (4 lambs/treatment diet) and were individually fed for a period of 107 days. Experimental diets were isonitrogenous and isocaloric. Final live weight and average daily gain (ADG) were affected by both source of protein and formaldehyde treatment (undegradable protein). Lambs fed untreated diets had better (p<0.01) daily gain compared to those fed formaldehyde-treated diets. Similarly total feed intake per animal was significantly (p<0.05) affected by protein source and formaldehyde treatment. Formaldehyde treatment caused a significant decrease (p<0.01) in feed intake compared to lambs fed untreated diets. Feed requirement per unit of gain was not affected by formaldehyde treatment during all periods of the experiment except for the second period (the second 28 day period), whereby untreated SBM, SSM and CSM had better feed conversion ratio (FCR) than the treated groups. Source of protein had a moderate effect (p<0.10) on FCR but had a significant effect (p<0.05) on hot and cold carcass weight, digestive tract empty weight and liver weight, with lambs fed SBM having higher values than lambs fed SSM and CSM diets. Supplementation with undegradable protein had a significant effect (p<0.05) on dressing-out percentage (p<0.05), final live weight, and hot and cold carcass weight (p<0.01). The lower values pertain to lambs fed treated diets compared to lambs fed untreated diets. In general, there were no significant differences among all carcass linear dimensions, carcass cut weights and dissected loin tissue weights for both treatments (protein source and formaldehyde treatment). Supplementation with undegradable protein but not the source of protein resulted in significantly higher dissected leg total bone weight (p<0.05), tibia and femur weight (p<0.05), and femur length (p<0.01) at the same carcass weight. Results suggest that the treatment of SBM, SSM and CSM with formaldehyde did not improve efficiency of feed utilization, lamb performance or carcass traits and that the SBM diet resulted in an increase in lamb performance compared to other experimental diets.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.24 no.11
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• pp.1547-1551
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• 2011

Bakery waste (BW) is much cheaper than barley (20 to 40% the price of barley). Bakery waste and barley grain have similar chemical composition; they contain 99 and 97% organic matter (OM), 1.1 and 1.8% fat, 18 and 15% neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and 14.0 and 14.5% crude protein (CP), respectively (DM basis). The objectives of this study were to determine the effect of substituting BW for barley grain in high concentrate fattening diets for lambs on nutrient intake, growth and carcass characteristics. Forty Awassi lambs (21.75${\pm}$1 kg) weaned at the age of 65 days were assigned randomly to four experimental fattening diets differing in BW ratio in a completely randomized design. The control diet (CON) contained 20, 60, 11, 7, and 2% (DM basis) wheat straw, barley grain, soybean meal, corn grain, and minerals and vitamin mix, respectively. Bakery waste substituted barley grain by 10, 20 and 30% of the diet DM in the LBW, MBW and HBW diets, respectively. The experiment lasted for 56 days. Dry matter intake (DMI) decreased (p<0.05) in LBW diet compared to the CON diet by approximately 10%. No further reduction in DMI was observed with the higher substitution levels. Metabolizable energy intake for the CON diet (3.6 Mcal/d) was also reduced (p<0.05) compared with LBW, MBW and HBW diets (3.4, 3.4 and 3.3 Mcal/d, respectively). Final body weight for lambs fed the CON diet (34.8 kg) was higher (p<0.05) compared with lambs fed the LBW, MBW and HBW diets (30.6, 32.0 and 31.1 kg, respectively). Growth rate for lambs fed the CON diet (232 g/d) was also higher (p<0.05) compared to lambs fed the LBW, MBW and HBW diets (170, 189, and 167 g/d, respectively). Feed to gain ratio was higher (p<0.05) for lambs fed the LBW, MBW and HBW diets (7.2, 6.6 and 7.3, respectively) compared with lambs that consumed the CON diet (5.7). Body weight gain cost was reduced by approximately 8% by the MBW and HBW diets as compared with the CON diet. Dressing percentage, full gut weight, empty gut weight and liver weights were all unaffected by the BW addition to the diets and averaged 48.9%, 6.8 kg, 2.8 kg and 0.444 kg, respectively. However, fat tail weight was increased (p<0.05) with the higher levels of the BW inclusion. In conclusion, substituting BW for barley grain reduced DMI and growth performance. However, when BW substituted barley grain at the 20 and 30% of the diet DM, body weight gain cost was reduced by approximately 8%.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.15 no.8
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• pp.1110-1114
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• 2002

The animal production sector in Jordan is characterized by shortages of locally produced feedstuffs derived from rangeland, forage plants or from human food crops as by products. This is exacerbated by insufficient rainfall, overgrazing, early grazing and high stocking rate. Thus, subject to these constraints, other technological improvements are highly desirable to meet the needs of crop growth and animal production. Alternative adapted technologies are also desirable in order to meet the increased demand for red meat in relation to population growth along with the changes in the price subsidy for feedstuff. The technologies are those, which have been introduced to the animal production sector, obtained in agricultural research stations besides on-farm demonstrations. They include technologies suited for increasing birth and twining rates, synchronizing the mating period, introducing the early weaning method, and animal feed and sheep production. Economic assessments conducted in this study demonstrate promising results of hormonal and nutritional practices in improving production efficiency of Awassi sheep in Jordan. Jordanian published data between 1991 and 1998 were used. The examined practices were: 1) use of PMSG in estrus synchronization in ewes, 2) introduction of early lamb weaning program, 3) supplementation with $AD_3E$ for ewes and 4) the use of agro-industrial feed block as a feed supplement for grazing lambs. Production data were then subjected to partial budgeting for economical evaluation. The use of PMSG outperformed the control groups in fertility and net returns per ewe by US$ 8.36/ewe. The early weaning of lambs increased the net returns by US$ 3.90/lamb. The injection with vitamin $AD_3E$ showed an average additional net return of US$ 5.66/ewe. Feeding agriculture by-product blocks improved weight gain in the feed block groups and resulted in additional net returns of US$ 3.5/lamb. The economic viability and reproductive performance indicators demonstrate that efforts should be undertaken to disseminate these new practices in the development program.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.124-138
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• 2023

This study was carried out to determine the effects of adding pistachio shell (PIS), pomegranate hull (POM), and olive pulp (OP) to the diet on milk amino acid and fatty acid parameters in Awassi sheep. In the study, 40 head of Awassi sheep, which gave birth at least twice, were used as animal material. Sheep were fed a control diet without added byproducts (CON), rations containing PIS, POM, and OP. Milk amino acid profile was determined by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, milk fatty acid gas chromatography-flame ionization detection device. There was a dramatic reduction in alanine, citrulline, glutamine, glutamic acid, glycine, leucine, ornithine and alphaaminoadipic acid in the research groups. In the PIS group, argininosuccinic acid, gammaminobutyric acid, beta-alanine and sarcosine; In the POM group, asparagine, gammaminobutyric acid, beta-alanine, and taurine; In the OP group, a significant positive increase was found in terms of alanine, histidine, gammaminobutyric acid, and taurine amino acids. The applications in the study did not have a statistically significant effect on the ratio of short, medium and long chain fatty acids in milk (p>0.05). In the presented study, it was determined that PIS, POM, and OP, which were added to the sheep rations at a rate of 5%, caused significant changes in the milk amino acid profiles. In this change in milk amino acid profiles, the benefit-harm relationship should be considered.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.15 no.7
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• pp.957-962
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• 2002

In July, three trials were conducted to evaluate the best sponge type and optimum PMSG dose to be administered to sheep under the Jordanian Badia (arid) conditions. In trial 1, three flocks (n=77, n=18 and n=47 for flocks 1, 2 and 3, respectively) were administered with 40 mg fluorogestone acetate (FGA) intravaginal sponges for 12 days before receiving 600 IU of PMSG at the time of sponge removal. In trial 2, 95 ewes were assigned to 4 groups to receive 300 (n=25), 450 (n=27), 600 (n=22) or 750 (n=21) IU of PMSG following a 12 d FGA 40 mg sponge insertion period. In trial 3, 60 ewes were assigned to 3 groups (n=20) to receive either FGA 30 mg, FGA 40 mg or medroxyprogesterone acetate (MAP) 60 mg intravaginal sponges all followed by an administration of 600 IU of PMSG at sponge removal. In all trials, rams were isolated 1 day before sponge insertion and were allowed back with the ewes at sponge removal. Estrual responses and lambing data were collected. The effects of treatment, milking status and face color on estrual responses and lambing data were examined. In trial 1, greater first cycle conception rate (p<0.05), twinning rate (p<0.01) and the number of lambs born/served ewe (p<0.01) were observed in flock 2 compared with flocks 1 and 3. Neither face color nor milking status had any influence on the measured parameters (p>0.05). Despite low lambing rate in trial 2, ewes receiving 600 IU of PMSG had greater (p<0.05) number of lambs born/served ewe compared with ewes receiving 450 IU of PMSG. Regardless of PMSG dose, intervals to detected estrus occurred 10 h earlier (p<0.01) in dry than lactating ewes. Similar to trial 2, lambing rate was depressed in trial 3. The expression of estrus was advanced (p<0.05) in ewes receiving MAP 60 mg sponges compared with those receiving FGA 30 and FGA 40 mg sponges (42$\pm$3.1, 49$\pm$3.1 and 49$\pm$3.1 h post sponge removal in ewes receiving MAP 60 mg, FGA 30 mg and FGA 40 mg sponges, respectively). Other parameters were not influenced (p>0.05) by sponge type, milking status and face color. Data show that a 600 IU dose of PMSG tends to give the best lambing results. In addition, results indicate that the use 60 mg MAP sponges for estrus synchronization may be more appropriate under the Jordanian Badia conditions during late seasonal anestrus.