Comparing of Different Levels of Corn Silage Substituted with Triticale Silage in the Diet of Male Growing Zel Lambs

Triticale and corn forages were harvested and ensiled at dough stage. The silage characteristics, chemical composition and aerobic stability were measured after two months of ensiling. In a completely randomized design, with 4 treatments and 10 replicates, 4 rations contained different levels of silages (up to 30%), were tested in 40 growing Zel male lambs during 12 weeks experiment, where the performance of animals and in vivo digestibility of rations determined. The results showed that pH, dry matter, crude protein, neutral and acid detergent fibers of silages differed significantly (P<0.05). Aerobic stability, based on the peak temperature was not different but the time to rich peak temperature was significantly (P<0.05) different between triticale and corn silages. The body weight gain (202.3 to 208g-1 d-), dry matter intake (1358 to 1371g-1 d-) and feed conversion ratio (6.62 to 6.75) were not statistically affected by the diets. Apparent digestibility of dry matter (75.56 to 80.54%), organic matter (77.83 to 82.49%) and acid detergent fiber (33.86 to 38.61%) were significantly (P<0.05) affected by the silage inclusions, but no differences were found in crude protein and neutral detergent fiber digestibility. Based on the lambs performance may be concluded that triticale silage can be used up to 30 percent of the diet for fattening lambs.