Mohammad Mehdi Moheghi - Animal Science Department, Agriculture Faculty, Herat, Afghanistan
Mohammad Ghoryar - Animal Science Department, Agriculture Faculty, Herat University, Herat, Afghanistan
Abdol Ataei - Veterinary Faculty, Kabul University, Kabul, Afghanistan

AbstractThe aim of this experiment was to study the effect of pure saponin and tannic acid on feed intake, weight gain, immune metabolites, blood lipids, and fatty acid profiles of lamb carcass. In this experiment, ۱۸ lambs with an average weight of ۱۷±۱.۵ kg were used in a completely randomized design (۳ treatments with ۶ replications) for ۶۰ days. Treatments consisted of a basal diet consisting of forage (۳۰%) and concentrates (۷۰%), and diets containing saponin (۱۵۰ mg/kg dry matter) or tannic acid (۱۵ g/kg dry matter). Dry matter intake, weight gain, feed conversion ratio, packed cell volume and blood concentrations of hemoglobin, glucose, urea nitrogen, total proteins, and triglycerides were not affected by the experimental treatments.  Concentration of saturated fatty acids and unsaturated fatty acids with a double bond did not show a significant difference between the experimental treatments, but the sum of unsaturated fatty acids with several double bonds was highest in the tannic acid treatment (P<۰.۰۵).

lamb, saponin, tannic acid, carcass composition