Nutrient digestibility, rumen microbial protein synthesis, and growth performance in sheep consuming rations containing sea buckthorn pomace.

This experiment was conducted to investigate nutrient digestibility, rumen microbial protein synthesis, and growth performance when different proportions of sea buckthorn pomace (SBP) were included in the diet of sheep. A total of forty1/2 Dorper × 1/2 thin-tailed Han ram lambs (BW = 22.2 ± 0.92 kg, age =120 ± 11 d; mean ± SD) were selected and divided into four groups in a randomized design and were randomly allocated to one of four treatment diets. Diets were formulated isonitrogenously and contained different levels of SBP: 1) 0% SBP (control), 2) 7.8% of DM SBP (8SBP), 3) 16.0% of DM SBP (16SBP), and 4) 23.5% of DM SBP (24SBP). A portion of corn and forages were replaced with SBP. DMI and ADG increased linearly (P = 0.001), but feed efficiency was not affected (P ≥ 0.460) by increasing SBP inclusion rate. As the SBP inclusion increased, OM, NDF, and ADF digestibility decreased linearly (P ≤ 0.005) and that CP increased linearly (P = 0.012). Response to inclusion level of SBP was quadratic (P = 0.003) for the estimated microbial CP yield with the greatest at intermediate SBP levels. For intestinally absorbable dietary protein, quadratic (P = 0.029) effects were observed among treatments. The metabolizable protein (MP) supplies were linearly (P < 0.0001) improved with increasing SBP inclusion rate. The results indicated that SBP can be incorporated in the ration of ram lambs and improve MP supply and ADG. However, high content of it in the diet was adverse for nutrient digestibility. The optimal proportion was 16.0% under the condition of this experiment.