Effect of forage sweet sorghum silage on nutrient utilization in mutton sheep

This study investigated the effects of forage sweet sorghum silage and whole corn silage on the nutrient utilization of sheep. According to the principle of similar weight, fourteen Dorper sheep (38.00±0.65 kg,♀) and fourteen small-tailed han sheep (29.83±0.94 kg,♀) formed the two study groups, respectively. They were free to consume wrapped silage (corn silage or forage sweet sorghum silage), the concentrate supplements and alfalfa granules were fed twice according to 1% and 0.5% of their body weight. The results revealed the following. 1) The apparent digestibility of ADF (acid detergent fiber) and NDF (neutral detergent fiber) in the forage sweet sorghum silage group was not significantly different from those in the corn silage group (P>0.05). Furthermore, the loss of fecal nitrogen of the forage sweet sorghum silage group was significantly lower than that of the corn silage group (P<0.01). 2) The nutrient intake, dry matter (DM), and organic matter (OM) of corn silage group were significantly higher than those of the forage sweet sorghum silage group (P<0.05). It was concluded that under the experimental condition, the proportion of non-protein nitrogen was low, while the proportion of available protein and soluble carbohydrates were high in the forage sorghum silage used for the fattening of sheep. Therefore, the forage sweet sorghum can be used as silage for safe and effective feeding.