DISCARDED DATES AND WHEAT-STRAW AS INGREDIENTS IN THE RATIONS OF GROWING SHEEP

The nutritive value of discarded Dates was estimated using Awassi sheep. Discarded Dates were minced and dissolved in warm water, then slowly added to chopped wheat straw. The mixture was dried in an oven at 60 degrees C for about 48 hours. Four diets containing 0% (T1), 10% (T2), 20% (T3) and 30% (T4) of discarded Dates plus 35% chopped wheat straw (DM basis) were made. The prepared diets were fed ad libitum to 32 Awassi lambs. This feeding trial lasted for 63 days followed by a 14 day digestibility trial. The results obtained showed the growth performance, feed intake and feed conversion of the four rations were average daily gain, 0.185, 0.214, 0.232, and 0.233 kg; average dry matter intake (% liveweight), 4.22, 4.44, 4.68, 4.62 kg; dry matter conversion ratio (kg DM/kg gain), 7.89, 7.29, 7.2 and 6.95. Growth performance data amply illustrated the superiority of the Dates containing rations over the control in the parameters referred to above. As for the digestibility data revealed no significant difference between treatments as far as the digestibility of the dry matter, organic matter, crude in and crude fiber were concerned.