Effects of replacing soybean meal with poultry slaughterhouse residue powder on lactating ewes

This study was conducted in order to investigate the effect of replacing soybean meal with poultry slaughterhouse residue powder on performance, milk composition, digestibility of nutrients, and blood parameters of lactating ewes. To perform this experiment, 24 dairy ewes of the Dalaq breed with an average weight of 36±3.7 kg were used in 4 treatments and 6 repetitions in a completely randomized design. The treatments were included: control treatment (diet without poultry slaughterhouse residue powder), second treatment (diet containing 33% replacement), third treatment (diet containing 66% replacement) and fourth treatment (diet containing 100% replacement of poultry slaughterhouse residue powder instead of soybean meal). Results showed that there was no significant difference between the experimental treatments in the final weight of sheep, daily weight gain, dry matter consumption, feed conversion ratio, milk production and feed consumption behavior. By increasing the replacement levels of poultry slaughterhouse residue powder with soybean meal, the percentage of non-fat solids, density and lactose of ewes' milk also increased (P<0.05). Among the different treatments, no significant difference was observed in terms of glucose, cholesterol, triglyceride, total protein, albumin, globulin, and albumin-globulin ratio, but blood urea nitrogen concentration increased with the replacement of poultry slaughterhouse residue powder with soybean meal increased (P<0.05). In general, it is possible to completely replace the powder of poultry slaughterhouse remains, which is a source of animal protein, with soybean meal, which is one of the imported items of animal feed, without causing any disturbance in the health and production of animals.