Effect of Fibrolytic Enzyme on Nutrient Utilization and Rumen Fermentation Pattern in Sheep

Effect of fibrolytic enzyme supplementation on nutrients utilization of sheep was studied. Twelve male Patanwadi sheep (12-15 month) were randomly divided in two groups of 6 each. Sheep were fed rations containing 50 % wheat straw and 50% compound concentrate mixture. A fibrolytic exogenous enzyme @ 0.025% was added to the ration of animal fed TMR. At the end of 14 weeks experimental period, animals were kept on digestion trial and three animals of each group were used for rumen fermentation analysis. There was no difference in final body weight between the groups due to enzyme treatment. There was non-significant difference on intake of dry matter and organic matter and also digestibility of DM, OM, CF and EE were not affected by treatment. However, the digestibility of CP and NFE were observed significantly (p<0.05) higher in treatment group as compared to control group. There was no significant effect on pH, TVFA, ammonia-N and NPN concentrations. However, the Total-N and protein-N concentration were significantly higher in treatment group as compared to control group. The daily feed cost was ` 6.04 and 5.90 under T1 and T2, respectively (P>0.05) which was somewhat lower in T2 in comparison to T1. It could be concluded that fibrolytic enzyme have no effect on feed intake, body wt gain, digestibility except protein utilization.