Effect of dietary replacing of corn grain with the blend of residues from the candy industry and corn gluten feed on performance of growing lambs

Abstract Corn is an international commodity, which can increase the costs of livestock production, since it is part of ruminants, non-ruminants, and human diets. Thus, it is important to include alternative feedstuffs for ruminants to reduce costs with animal feeding. The objective of this study was to evaluate the intake and apparent digestibility of dry matter (DM) and nutrients, as well as voluntary water intake, ingestive behavior, performance, nitrogen (N) balance, blood serum metabolites, and hematological profiles of Santa Ines lambs fed different inclusion levels (0, 116, 233 and 353 g/kg of diet DM) of a blend of residues from the candy industry (RCI) and corn gluten feed (CGF), at the ratio of 613:387 on DM basis. Thirty-six Santa Ines lambs (approximately six months old and 19.43± 1.69 kg of initial body weight [BW]) were distributed in a completely randomized design. Intakes of DM, crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber treated with heat-stable α-amylase and corrected for ash and protein (aNDFap), water, and metabolizable energy (ME), and the apparent digestibility coefficients (DM, CP and NFCap), N balance, growth performance, feeding efficiency of DM and aNDFap, blood serum profile, erythogram and leukogram (neutrophil, lymphocytes, eosinophils and basophils) were not affected (P > 0.05) by the level of inclusion of the RCI:CGF blend in the diet. The apparent digestibility coefficient of aNDFap and monocyte tended to increase (P