Mohammad Reza Rahimi - Department of Animal Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran
Younes Alijoo - Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran
Rasoul Pirmohammadi - Department of Animal Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran
Masoud Alimirzaei - Department of Animal Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran

The aim of this study was to evaluate the feeding of Qizil fattening lambs with different levels of broiler litter (BL) on their weight gain, dry matter intake (DMI), nutrient digestibility, selected blood metabolites and husbandry economics. During an eight-weeks experimental period, ۲۸ male lambs (an average of ۴۲.۲۱ ± ۵.۶۳ kg and ages of ۷-۸ months) were allocated randomly to one of four dietary treatments, including; control diet with no litter (NL, n = ۷), diet containing ۵% BL (LL, n = ۷), diet with ۱۰% BL (ML, n = ۷) and diet containing ۱۵.۰۰% BL (HL, n = ۷) as dry matter (DM) basis. The lambs were kept in individual pens and had free access to feed and water (ad libitum) throughout the study. In this research, DMI and feed conversion ratio were not influenced significantly by the dietary treatments, while average daily gain (ADG) was found to be significant. The lambs which consumed LL diet (۵.۰۰% BL) had the greatest ADG. The DM digestibility significantly influenced by dietary treatments, as the HL diet (۱۵.۰۰% BL) had the least DM digestibility. There were also significant differences in the crude protein and acid detergent fiber digestibility among the treatments. Blood urea nitrogen and glucose levels were significantly affected by the treatments. Low litter treatment had the least FCR and the highest economical advantage. In conclusion, feeding male Qizil lambs with BL can reduce production cost without any negative effects on performance.

Broiler litter, Economics, Growth performance, Qizil breed