Effect of Supplementation of Exogenous Fibrolytic Enzymes on Growth Performance of Lambs Fed Finger Millet Straw Based Diets

Abstract

This experiment was taken up to study the effect of supplementing fibrolytic enzymes on the growth performance of lambs fed finger millet straw based diets. In a growth trial of 12 weeks duration, three groups (T1, T2 and T3) of five male lambs each were fed diet comprising finger millet straw (40 per cent) and compounded feed mixture (60 per cent). Group T1 served as control with no enzyme supplementation, whereas groups T2 and T3 were supplemented with 1g and 2g of enzyme premix respectively per day (each gram of the premix contained cellulase : xylanase enzyme activity of 6000:12000 units). Digestion trial was conducted in the last week of growth trial. The supplementation of enzyme increased the digestibility (per cent) of neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber and the digestible organic matter in dry matter content (45.9, 47.1, 52.6 : 42.1, 42.9, 48.2 and 64.7, 65.7, 69.4 per cent for groups T1, T2 and T3 respectively), of the diet with the digestibility of T3 group significantly higher than T1 or T2 groups (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the feed intake or average daily body weight gain of the lambs among the treatment groups, indicating that the supplementation of exogenous fibrolytic enzyme has no beneficial effect on the growth performance of lambs in the present study.