Abstract
The study was conducted in Nineveh Research Department at Ministry of Agriculture, Iraq, when a total of 21 Awassi ewes aged 2-3 years and weighing 48.61 ± 3.27 kg were used to evaluate the effect of feeding reed with addition of mixture of enzymes and probiotic on body weight and some blood parameters. The ewes were divided in to three groups (7 ewes per treatment). The first tr.eatment was fed daily concentrate diet (5kg/group) plus 3 kg of wheat straw. In the second group, the wheat straw was replaced with chopped common reed leaves while 2 gm of mixture of enzymes and probiotic was added. Results showed a significant increase (p≤0.05) in favor of the third treatment in the total weight gain of 5.00 kg and daily gain 70.85 g as compared with the second treatment 3.71 kg and 52.57 g respectively. Significantly (p≤0.05) increase was noted in blood total protein and globulin this was associated with a decrease in blood albumin in the second and third treatments compared to the first treatment. A significant increase (p≤0.05) was observed in the third treatment in the triglycerides 152.32 mg /dl compared to the first and second treatments 105.84 and 115.20 mg/dl. In general, it is possible to substitute common reed instead of wheat straw and to improve the efficiency of common reed utilization by adding a mixture of enzymes and probiotic. EFFECT OF FEEDING REED WITH ADDITION OF ENZYMES MIXTURE AND PROBIOTIC ON BODY WEIGHT CHANGE AND SOME BLOOD MESUREAMENTS IN AWASSI EWES
