EFFECT OF BIOLOGICAL TREATMENTS ON DATE SEED AND PERFORMANCE OF SMALL RUMINANTS

Abstract

In the introductory of our study, an overview of the problem expressing the gap between the animal feeding resources & the requirements of animals and the trail through this work to overcome such problem and provide a nutrition value for the animal ration from a west undesirable material as date stone had been accomplished. The second portion of this study consists of the procedure of the experiments and the chemicals used to carry out the study. Finally, the results and discussion of the obtained results were conducted. The experimental work was conducted in 2017, at the Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt and the Experiment of the Farm Animals occurred in the Animal Production Research Institute. The experimental work was achieved by crushing 500 Kg of a date stone to be used for feeding of nine of adult rams aged 2 – 3 years with a body weight of ±50 Kg that were randomly divided into three experimental groups (three in each one). The experimental diets were divided into four groups. The first of them was the control diet consist of 60% of the concentrate and 40 of rice straw, the second diet consists of the crushed untreated date stone, the third one was the crushed date stone biologically treated with Acetobacter xylinum (T1) and the final diet consists of the crushed date stone treated with Thermonospora fusca (T2). The biological treatment was aimed to the conversion of the high fiber content for date stone to the less crude fiber content (CF) and also to increase the crude protein content (CP), consequently, increase the nutritional value of the date stone especially if was mixed with a percentage of the concentrate. An experimental study (In-vitro Trial) of such four diets was carried out, but with a replacement of the control by a percentage of the untreated, treated (T1) and treated (T2) ranging at 25, 50, 75 and 100% of concentrate. The best result (60% of diet) obtained in the case of the Thermonospora treated date stone (T2). So the three animal groups were fed separately one of the three diet the control (R1), untreated (R2) and treated with Thermonospora fusca (R3), respectively as an experimental diets ( In-vivo Trail).