• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.135-138
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• 1993

Twelve intact and 12 docked Najdi lambs of equal numbers of males and females were utilized in the experiment. All lambs were raised under similar conditions until they attained 40 kg shorn and shrunk body weight. Thereafter, lambs were individually fed ad libitum on a diet formulated to contain 11.20 MJ ME/kg and slaughtered after 60 days feeding period. The results showed that Najdi rams averaged 6.14 kg more total gain (p < .05), required 6.80 kg less feed (p < .05) per kg of gain and produced 3.2 and 3.07 kg more (p < .05) carcass and salable cuts weights over the feeding period than comparable ewes. Body wall thickness and kidney and pelvic fat weight were greater (p < .05) for ewes than for rams; dressing percent, longissimus area and fat thickness were not significantly influenced by sex of lambs. Docked lambs kept for 60 days on feed required 1.80 kg less feed (p < .05) per kg of gain and produced 2.21 kg more (p < .05) salable wholesale cuts weight than intact lambs. Docking was not a significant source of variation for total gain, carcass weight, dressing percent, longissimus dorsi area, body wall thickness and fat thickness.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.79-86
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• 1993

Twelve docked and 12 intact Najdi lambs of equal numbers of males and females were slaughtered at 40 kg shorn shrunk body weight, Lipid in all empty body fat components; namely, subcutaneous, intermuscular, intramuscular, omental, mesenteric, channel, perirenal, pericardial, tail, viscera, bone and hide, were determined. Except for ram lambs, which had a lower percentage of lipid in intermuscular partition in loin cut, sex did not influence the relative proportion of subcutaneous or intermuscular fat in each wholesale cut. The data also showed that docking did not change the distribution of lipid in intermuscular and intramuscular fat partitions in each wholesale cut. Docked lambs tended to accumulate lower proportions of the lipid in subcutaneous fat component in the cuts located along the dorsal line than intact lambs. The total amount of lipid deposited in the empty body of ewe lamb was heavier in weight than that of ram lamb. Docking had no effect on the distribution of total lipid in the empty body, except for subcutaneous fat component, being greater in docked lambs than did intact ones. Generally, the highest proportion of fat was associated with subcutaneous depot followed, in order, by intermuscular, mesenteric, tail, intramuscular and omental fat partitions.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.491-496
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• 2004

Forty-five Najdi ram lambs were equally and randomly allotted to five dietary groups with three replications per diet to evaluate the effect of feeding olive cake in complete diet on nutrient digestibility, growth performance and carcass characteristics. The diets were: a whole-mixed control diet (C) containing 12% wheat straw and four diets; namely O, ON, OU and OUE, where crude olive cake, 3% NaOH-treated olive cake, 5% urea-treated olive cake (U) and ensiled U, respectively were incorporated to replace the wheat straw of C diet. The results showed that the digestibility of DM, CP, EE and NFE and TDN were higher (p<0.05) in OUE diet as compared to the control diet; there were no changes (p>0.05) in the corresponding values between O, ON and OU diets. The nutrient digestibilities, body weight gain, feed efficiency and Longissimus area were significantly (p<0.05) lower in ON diet as compared to other experimental diets. Average daily DM intake and weight gain were higher (p<0.05) in lambs fed O, OU and OUE diets than those fed C diet. The moisture and protein contents in the soft tissue from ON treatment were lower (p<0.05) than those tissues from C, O, OU and OUE treatments. In conclusion, these results indicated that crude olive cake is a better substitute of wheat straw when fed to growing lambs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.475-482
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• 2010

Thirty-six Najdi ram lambs, weighing an average of 24 kg and circa 3 months old, were utilized in this trial to evaluate the effects of various alfalfa hay particle lengths in the diet on growth performance, digestion coefficients, nitrogen retention and carcass characteristics. Lambs were randomly allotted to three dietary treatments: 9.5 and 14 mm diets, where alfalfa hay was processed to 9.5 and 14 mm particle lengths, respectively, mixed with 3 parts of concentrate and pelleted as a total mixed ration (TMR), and long hay diet, where one part of loose alfalfa hay (17.8${\pm}$2.4 cm) was offered in combination with 3 parts of only-concentrate pellet. All dietary treatments were homogeneous in their ingredient composition. All lambs were slaughtered after a 14-week feeding trial. Although the results showed no significant effect of hay particle length on DMI, TDN and DCP, lambs fed the 9.5 mm pelleted diet had higher (p<0.05) final body weight, ADG, gain efficiency and nitrogen retention than lambs fed the 14 mm and long hay diets. Altering the particle length of alfalfa hay in diets did not affect the digestibility of DM or CP, whereas digestibilities of ADF and NDF were 3.7% and 5.4% higher (p<0.05), respectively, for the long hay diet versus the 9.5 mm pelleted diet. Hot carcass weight, percentage of separable lean from the $9-11^{th}$ rib joint, and percentages of protein and EE in the separable lean increased (p<0.05) as the particle length of alfalfa hay in the diet decreased. Under the conditions of this study, the reduction of particle length in the TMR played an important role in enhancing performance without altering DM consumption, and this may lead to more efficient productivity of lamb fattening compared with longer chopping lengths.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.12 no.8
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• pp.1234-1240
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• 1999

The nutritive value of rumen contents and barley mixture (4:1 w/w; RCB) was evaluated and the effect of their feeding on growth performances in Najdi lambs was studied. A metabolism trial was conducted with 16 rams divided into four dietary groups. The diets were: a whole-mixed control diet and three diets where RCB was incorporated at the rates of 25, 50 and 100%, replacing an equal amount of control diet. The results showed that there was a depression (p<0.05) in DM digestibility for the 100% RCB diet in comparison with other diets. The digestibility of CP was higher(p<0.05) for the 25% RCB diet as compared to the control diet; there was a trend for a small (p>0.05) decrease in digestibility as level of RCB increased. Lambs in all studied diets were in positive nitrogen balance; the differences between diets were not significant. A total of 45 lambs were allotted into three groups and used to evaluate the effect of dietary inclusion of RCB (0, 25 and 50%) on growth performance and carcass traits. Daily DM intake, final body weight, carcass weight and dressing percentage were not different among treatments. Average weight gain and ether extract (EE) in 9-11th control joint were higher (p<0.05) in lambs fed control diet than those fed RCB diets. The substitution of RCB for 50% of control diet exhibited 11.8% reduction in feeding cost for each kg of body weight gain.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.7
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• pp.957-965
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• 2005

The effect of ammoniation with urea and with soybean meal (SBM) as a source of urease on the nutritive value of wheat straw was evaluated in sheep. Twenty-four male Najdi lambs were used in a 3${\times}$2 factorial design, in which the animals were allocated to three straw treatments: 0% urea-treated (NT), 6% urea-treated (UT) and 2.2% urea-supplemented (US) straws. Each straw treatment was either supplemented or non-supplemented with 70 g SBM $kg^{-1}$ straw during the treatment time with urea, giving a total of six straw treatments. Each of these treatments was individually fed ad libitum to 4 lambs, together with 300 g of barley grain/head/day. Total N content of UT and US straws increased significantly (p<0.001) as compared to NT straw. The degree of urea hydrolysis, either with or without SBM addition, was nearly similar. Lambs fed either UT or US straw based diets had significantly (p<0.01) and numerically (p>0.05) higher straw DM intake (g $d^{-1}$ $kg^{-1}$ $BW^{0.75}$), compared to those fed NT straw based diet. Apparent DM or OM digestibilities increased significantly (p = 0.014) in lambs fed UT diet, and numerically (p>0.05) in lambs fed US diet as compared to those fed NT diet. Fiber (CF, NDF, ADF, cellulose and hemicellulose) digestibility increased to a similar magnitude, averaging 20.2 (p<0.001) and 7.8% (p<0.07); this corresponds to 35 (p<0.001) and 51% (p<0.001) in N digestibility and approximately 78 (p<0.017) and 105% (p<0.002) in N retention, for UT and US diets, respectively, as compared to NT diet. However, the UT diet had higher (p<0.01) fiber digestibility over the US diet. Addition of SBM tended to improve (p = 0.09) straw DM and digestible OM intakes, while significantly increasing (p<0.001) total and digestible CP intakes across all diets. Lambs fed on US diet had higher ruminal ammonia N than those fed on UT (p<0.05) or NT (p<0.001) diets. However, ruminal pH and molar proportion of the volatile fatty acids did not differ (p>0.05) among the treatment diets. This study suggests that US and UT treatments, particularly the latter, improved straw intake, digestibility and N utilization by lambs compared to NT treatment. On the other hand, addition of SBM as a source of urease had a negligible effect on urea hydrolysis.