The effects of supplementing sweet sorghum with grapeseeds on dry matter intake, average daily gain, feed digestibility and rumen parameters and microbiota in lambs

Abstract This study examined the effect of supplementing sweet sorghum with grapeseeds on dry matter intake, average daily gain, feed digestibility and rumen parameters and microbiota in small-tailed Han lambs. A total of 28 lambs (19.1±1.20 kg) were divided randomly into four dietary treatment groups and received alfalfa silage (1% BW on DM basis) and concentrate feed (2% BW on DM basis) plus: 1) sweet sorghum silage (SS); 2) sweet sorghum silage + grapeseeds (SSG); 3) sweet sorghum hay (SH); and 4) sweet sorghum hay + grapeseeds (SHG). Sweet sorghum silage and hay were offered ad libitum and grapeseeds, when offered, were added at 6% DM of concentrate feed, which was equivalent to approximately 2.7 % of total DMI. Grapeseeds did not affect DMI, but DMI of the silage groups were higher than the hay groups (P