Twenty male Friesian calves 13 months old and a mean live body weight of 267.25 Kg were randomly divided into four similar groups (five for each group) to study the effects of adding Pro-Bio-Fair (yeast culture) and fenugreek seeds on growth performance, digestibility, rumen fermentation and economic efficiency of calves. The duration of the field study was 6 months. Treatments were: T1 (control): concentrate feed mixture + berseem hay + rice straw, T2: control ration + 10g Pro-Bio– Fair/ head/ day, T3: control ration + 20g Pro-Bio-Fair / head day and T4: control ration + 3% fenugreek seeds/ head/ day (as total diet DM).
Results showed that T¬¬3 had the highest TDNI, DCPI and SVI / head/ day while no significant differences were observed among treatments in DM, OM, CF and NFE digestibility. however T3 was significantly higher in CP digestibility than T1 and T2.
Ruminal pH in T1 was significantly higher than that of the other groups. Ruminal NH3 – N was nonsignificant lower (P>0.05) in T2, T3 and T4 than T1. T4 recorded the highest TVFA’s while the lowest value was recorded with T1. DM, TDN and SV conversion were non significantly different among groups. The highest average total gain, daily gain and economic efficiency were recorded for T3.
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