EFFECT OF PROBIOTIC SUPPLEMENTATION AND VARYING DIETARY PROTEIN LEVELS IN CREEP FEED ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE OF SALT RANGE LAMBS

Abstract

Main aim of this work was to findout the influence of probiotic supplementation and suitable dietary protein level in creep feed for optimum growth performance of Salt Range lambs. Lambs (n ₌ 16; Age ₌ 30±10 days) were chosen and divided into four equal groups. Four dietary treatments; diet-1 (CP 18% with no probiotic), diet-2 (CP 18% with probiotic), diet-3 (CP 20% with no
probiotic) and diet-4 (CP 20% with probiotic) were randomly allocated to lambs under Completely Randomized Design. The raw data were analyzed through ANOVA technique using SAS 9.3 software. The growth performance was determined in terms of average daily gain, average daily feed intake, feed conversion ratio, feed cost per kg gain and blood parameters; hemoglobin, blood glucose, blood urea and blood cholesterol. Results indicated that average daily gain of lambs fed diets having 20% protein
with and without probiotic supplementation are not different (P>0.05), whereas average daily gain of lambs fed 20% protein was found higher (P<0.05) than of those fed 18% protein with and without probiotic supplementation. Average daily feed intake was found higher (P<0.05) in diet-3 than diet-2 but remained not different in animals fed diet-1 and diet-4. Lambs fed dietary protein 20 percent were found more efficient (P<0.05) in terms of feed conversion ratio than that of 18 percent protein. Blood
parameters were found not different by various dietary treatments. It was inferred that creep feed with probiotic supplementation couldn’t influence growth but higher dietary crude protein 20% in creep feed improved growth performance of Salt Range lambs in pre-weaning phase.