Effect of yeast culture supplementation on nutrient intake, digestibility and growth performance of Awassi lambs

Abstract A growth study was conducted to evaluate the effect of supplying a yeast culture (YC; Diamond V ® YC) containing Saccharomyces cerevisiae on nutrient intake, digestibility and growth performance of fattening Awassi lambs. Twenty-four Awassi lambs (20.6 ± 0.2 kg BW), housed in individual pens, were divided into three groups and fed a basal diet, where treatments were 0, 3 and 6 g/d of YC supplementation. The metabolizable energy content of the basal diet was 11.8 MJ/kg and the experiment lasted for 74 d. Intake was similar in all groups and metabolizable energy intake was also not affected by YC supplementation. Dry matter, organic matter and apparent crude protein digestibilities were higher ( P P P P P