Physiological Status and Growth Rate of Thin-tailed Lambs Fed Different Levels of Spirulina platensis
Year: 2026
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: A study examined the effect of supplementation of Spirulina platensis in basal diet on feed intake, physiological status and productivity of Thin-tailed lambs. Twenty-four male lambs (weighed 14.99 ± 1.90 kg, aged 4-5 mo) were randomly divided into 4 diets with 6 replications. They were fed basal diet consisted of 35% corn husk, 10% palm kernel meal, 15% pollard, 12% biscuit flour, 15% coffee skin, 10% cassava flour, and 3% molasses. The treatments were basal diet with supplementation of spirulina 0% (T0), 0.5% (T1), 1% (T2), and 1.5% (T3). The parameters observed were dry matter intake (DMI), digested dry matter intake (DDMI), digestibility of dry matter (DMD), respiration rate, pulse rate and rectal temperature, change of body size, and average daily gain (ADG). An ANOVA was used to analysed the data. If any significantly different then tested by Duncan test. The study showed that lambs fed T3 had the highest (P<0.05) DMI (985.66 g/d) and DDMI (734.39 g/d). The DMD was 65.80%, respiration rate (40.2 times/minute), pulse rate (83.7 times/minute), rectal temperature (39.1°C) were similar among treatments (P>0.05). The lambs fed T2 and T3 had higher an increase of the chest width, body length, and hip width was higher (P<0.05) than those of T0 and T1. The lambs fed T2 and T3 had the highest ADG (186.7 g/d) than that of the others (P<0.05). In conclusion, the supplementation of Spirulina platensis in basal diet increased on DMI, DDMI and productivity without alter physiological status. The supplementation of spirulina platensis up to 1% in basal feed improve productivity, feed efficiency and enhanced the body size of Thin tailed lambs, thus possibly reducing feed costs and rearing time of lambs.
Language: English
Subfield: Animal Science and Zoology
Domain: Life Sciences
SDG: Zero hunger
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7147494339