This research was performed to compare the nutritional studies of Barki sheep and doe Shami goats fed on mixture of forage tree legumes and its effects on feed intake, nutrient digestibility, nutritive value, nitrogen utilization, body weight change, some parameters of rumen and blood. Our study was carried out at South Sinai Research Station (Ras Suder), South Sinai Governorate, Egypt. Thirty-six pregnant Barki sheep and Shami goats were randomly allocated into two equal groups (18 animals each species). The first group (G1) of each species fed alfalfa with concentrate diet and served as control. The second group (G2) fed ad libitum sun-dried chopped mixture contained 50% Acacia saligna, 25% Prosopis juliflora and 25% Leucaena leucocephala with concentrate diet. Results indicated that overall roughage and total DM intake (g/Kg W 0.75/d) were similar between both species but animals fed G2 showed lower (P<0.05) in roughage and total DM intake than those fed G1. The results also showed that goats had higher (P<0.05) overall dry matter (DM), crud protein (CP) and crud fiber (CF) digestibility than sheep but overall nitrogen intake (NI) was similar between both species and was higher (P<0.05) for animals fed G1 vs. those fed G2. Also, nitrogen balance was similar between both species and was insignificant higher for those fed G1 vs. G2. Goats had higher (P<0.05) overall ammonia NH3-N than sheep but sheep had higher (P<0.05) overall ruminal TVFA´s than goats as well as animals fed G2 showed lower (P<0.05) NH3-N and TVFA´s than those fed G1. Values of body weight change (kg) and relative body weight (%) of end pregnancy were insignificant between both species and feeding treatments. Sheep had slightly insignificant lower concentrations of overall total protein and globulin than goats and was also slightly insignificant higher concentrations of overall urea and creatinine than goats while goats recorded insignificant higher values of overall AST and ALT than sheep. It was concluded feed utilization of tree legumes mixture as animal feeds in saline affected and soils could be an appropriate option for alleviating the desertification difficulties and provide alternatives as good feed resources especially in droughts when the other traditional food resources are shortage.
Key words: Sheep, goats, tree legumes, intake, digestibility, rumen parameters and blood parameters.
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