Mansur M Ahmad(1) Muhannad Muna*(2) Abdu Allah Nouh(1) Osman Kahel(1) Faesal Hanafi(1) and Mohammad Toama(1).
(1).Animal Wealth Research Administration, General Commission for Scientific Agricultural Research (GCSAR), Damascus, Syria.
(2). Latakia Research Center , GCSAR, Latakia, Syria.
(*Corresponding author: Dr. Muhannad Muna, Latakia. E. mail: muhannadmuna@yahoo.com)
Received: 08/03/ 2015 Accepted: 18/06/ 2015
Abstract
This study was carried out at sheep section – Shami Camels Research Station, Damascus country side. Twenty-four lactating Awassi ewes homogenous in terms of age (5 years) and production season (fourth) and milk yield in the previous season. The ewes were divided randomly into three groups. All housing and management conditions were similar for all sheep throughout experiment period (105 day post-weaning). The first group T (control) was fed on basic ration (concentrate feed, barley-vetch hay, fresh forage), while the second T1 and the third T2 groups were fed on basic ration supplemented by yeast (3 and 5 g/head/day, respectively). The results showed that the average total gain was higher in T2 (P≤0.05) as compared with control (6.25 vs. 4.89). Milk yield amounted 65.82±2.47, 71.57±3.86, and 70.27±7.81 kg for T, T1 and T2, respectively. T1 milk yield was higher (P≤0.05) by 8.7% than that of T. There was no significant differences between the three groups for milk components (fat, protein, lactose and total solids), while amount of total fat was significantly (P≤0.05) more than 16.1 and 13.7%, respectively for T1 and T2. It can be concluded that the addition of live yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae at a rate of 3 g/head/day to the diets of dairy ewes gives the highest milk production vs 5 g/head/day for better gain in body weight.
Keywords: Awassi sheep, Yeast culture, Milk yield, Fat.
Full paper in Arabic: تأثير خميرة السكرومايسيس سرفيسيا الحية على إنتاج الحليب والوزن الحي في أغنام العواس