1. Nutrient utilization, nitrogen balance
and weight gain as affected by different
levels of dietary non-structural
carbohydrates in lambs
Mubbashar Iftikhar
2006-ag-1027
M.Sc. (Hons.) Animal Nutrition

2. Introduction
• Sheep population is 28.4 millions
• Overall meat production is 3,232 tons
• Beef production is 1,769 tons
(Economic Survey of Pakistan 2011-12)
• This share can be increase by supplying
adequate nutrients

3. Current Scenario
• Provision of poor quality feed stuffs
• low concentration of valuable nutrients
• High fiber fractions decreased digestibility of
nutrients
• Inadequate availability,
• Irregular supply
• High cost of carbohydrate energy sources

4. Possible solution
• Provide judicious feed stuffs
• Adequate concentration of valuable nutrients
• Adequate availability
• Regular supply
• Adequate levels of non structural
carbohydrates (NSC) and structural
carbohydrates affect the productive
performance of the animals

5. Structural Carbohydrates
• These carbohydrates form an essential dietary
"fibre" component of all grazing ruminant
animals
• Less digestible than the non structural
carbohydrates
• These include,
 Cellulose
Hemicelluloses
Pectins and b-glucans

6. Non structural carbohydrates
• Non structural carbohydrates are easily
digested by ruminants
• Highly fermentable
• Non structural carbohydrates include,
Starch
Simple sugars(e.g., glucose, fructose, sucrose
etc)
Fructosans

7. Structural and non structural
carbohydrates

8. Objective
The objective of the present study was to
examine the response of altering
concentrations of NSC on,
• Nutrients intake (DM, CP, NDF and ADF)
• Nutrient digestibilities (DM, CP, NDF and ADF)
• Nitrogen balance and blood urea nitrogen
• Weight gain

9. Materials and Methods
Experimental Animals 20 lambs(5/pen)
Treatments 04
Diet allocation Random
Trial duration 3 month
Statistical design RCBD
Four diets were formulated as,
NSC contents (%) Denoted as
25 LNSC
30 MNSC
35 HNSC
40 VHNSC

10. Ingredient composition of experimental diets
10
Ingredients
Experimental Diets
25NSC 30NSC 35NSC 40NSC
Wheat straw 30 25 20 15
Corn 15 20 25 30
Sun flower meal 17 10 10 9
Canola Meal 17 15 15 15
Urea 1 1 1 1
Rice Polish 0 0 2 3
Wheat bran 12 15.5 12 10
Corn gluten 30% 0 4 4 4
Corn gluten 60% 5 5 5 5
Molasses 0 1.5 3 5
DCP 1 1 1 1
Na-bicarbonate 1 1 1 1
Mineral Premix 1 1 1 1
Total 100 100 100 100

11. Chemical composition of experimental diets
Ingredients
Experimental Diets
25NSC 30NSC 35 NSC 40NSC
Crude Protein
(%)
18.5 18.5 18.5 18.5
ME (Mcal/Kg) 2.1 2.16 2.14 2.11
NDF (%) 40.34 35.68 31.02 26.59
ADF (%) 25.77 21.84 18.94 16.08
Lignin 6.36 5.28 4.78 4.23
NSC 24.71 30.23 34.79 40.31
11

12. Results

13. Effect of different dietary non-structural carbohydrate
concentrations on nutrients intake in growing lambs
Items
Experimental Diets
SE
25NSC 30NSC 35NSC 40NSC
DM intake
875b 1032a 912ab 845b 35.67
CP intake
159.16b 188.13a 166.0ab 153.79b 7.36
NDF intake
340.11ab 352.43a 275.97b 212.6c 17.32
ADF intake
211.13ab 226.0a 165.25b 137.98c 9.75
13Means in the same rows bearing different letters were significantly different (P<0.05)

14. Effect of different dietary non-structural
carbohydrate concentrations on nutrients
intake in growing lambs
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
25NSC 30NSC 35NSC 40NSC
Intake(g)
Treatment %
DM intake
CP Intake
NDF Intake
ADF intake

15. Effect of different dietary non-structural carbohydrate concentrations on
nutrients digestibility in growing lambs
Items
%
Experimental Diets
SE
25NSC 30NSC 35NSC 40NSC
Dry matter
63.91c 69.32a 66.17ab 67.19b 1.13
Crude
Protein
66.41c 71.09a 68.75ab 67.65b 1.07
NDF
47.32c 58.36a 55.42ab 52.32b 3.21
ADF
44.23 45.12 44.21 43.98 0.97
15
Means in the same rows bearing different letters were significantly different (P<0.05)

16. Effect of different dietary non-structural
carbohydrate concentrations on nutrients
digestibility in growing lambs
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
25NSC 30NSC 35NSC 40NSC
Nutrientsdigestibility(%)
Treatment %
DM
CP
NDF
ADF

17. Effect of different dietary non-structural carbohydrate concentrations on
nitrogen balance in growing lambs
Items
Experimental Diets
SE
25NSC 30NSC 35NSC 40NSC
Nutrients intake, g/d
Intake g/d 25.46c 30.1a 26.56ab 24.61b 1.97
Fecal, g/d 8.69 8.7 8.3 7.96 1.02
Fecal nitrogen,
%age of intake
34.13a 28.90b 31.25b 32.34b 2.96
Apparent
Absorption g/d
16.77b 21.4a 18.26ab 16.65b 2.32
Urinary, g/d 4.76 3.75 4.3c 3.5b 0.17
Balance g/d 12.01c 17.65a 13.96b 13.15bc 1.34
17Means in the same rows bearing different letters were significantly different (P<0.05)

18. Effect of different dietary non-structural
carbohydrate concentrations on nitrogen
balance in growing lambs
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
25NSC 30NSC 35NSC 40NSC
NitrogenBalance
Treatment %
Nitrogen balance
Nitrogen balance

19. Effect of different dietary non-structural carbohydrate concentrations on
blood urea nitrogen in growing lambs
Items
Experimental Diets
SE
25NSC 30NSC 35NSC 40NSC
……… 4hr………………
BUN2, mg/
dL
23.12a 20.31b 19.87b 19.18b 2.17
……… 8hr………………
BUN2,
mg/dL
19.32 17.45 18.37 18.07 1.32
……… 12hr………………
BUN2,
mg/dL
17.31 16.54 16.98 17.32 0.93
19
Means in the same rows bearing different letters were significantly different (P<0.05)

20. Effect of different dietary non-structural carbohydrate concentrations on
weight gain in growing lambs
Items
Experimental Diets
SE
25NSC 30NSC 35NSC 40NSC
Feed Intake,
g/d
875b 1032a 912ab 845b 35.42
Weight gain,
g/d
139c 189a 150b 145bc 4.37
Feed
conversion
ratio
6.29a 5.46c 6.08b 5.83bc 0.21
20
Means in the same rows bearing different letters were significantly different (P<0.05)

21. Non-structural carbohydrate
concentrations and weight gain in growing
lambs
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
25NSC 30NSC 35NSC 40NSC
Weightgain(g/d)
Treatment %
Weight gain
Weight gain

22. Conclusion
• Findings of the present study imply that lambs
fed 30 % NSC diet consumed more
feed, digested nutrients with better efficiency
and gained more weight compare to
25, 35, 40 % NSC