Effects of seeding rate, days to harvest, and inclusion of hydroponically grown barley fodder in the diet of growing lambs

Al-Khateeb, Suliman A.; Mohammad, Tagelsir A.; Sattar, Muhammad N.; Al-Barrak, Khalid M.; Zeineldin, Faisal I.; Elmulthum, Nagat Ahmed Mustafa

doi:10.21608/agro.2025.258663.1402

Effects of seeding rate, days to harvest, and inclusion of hydroponically grown barley fodder in the diet of growing lambs

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Department of Environment and Natural Resources, College of Agriculture and Food Sciences, King Faisal University Al-Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia

² Department of Animal Husbandry and Public Health, College of Veterinary Medicine King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia

³ Central Laboratories, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia

⁴ Department of Environment and Natural Resources, College of Agriculture and Food Sciences, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa 31982 , Saudi Arabia

⁵ Water Studies Centre, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia

⁶ Agribusiness and Consumer Sciences, College of Agriculture and Food Sciences, King Faisal University, Hufof, Saudi Arabia

10.21608/agro.2025.258663.1402

Abstract

The effects of seeding rate (2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 kg m-2) and days to harvest (7, 10, 15, 20 and 25 days) on the nutrients and mineral contents of hydroponically grown barley fodder (HBF) were assessed. The effects of days to harvest on the nutrient and mineral contents of HBF increased significantly with increasing days to harvest. Seeding rates had no effect on nutrients except for crude fiber (CF). The effect of including HBF (treatment diet) fed to growing Riverine lambs and Rhodes grass hay (RGH) was also evaluated. Results of a 12-week feeding trial on 7-10-month- lambs indicated that including HBF in the diet of the treatment group significantly improved total voluntary dry matter intake (3850 g wk-1 vs 4713 g wk-1) for the control and treatment diet groups, respectively. However, lambs fed on the diet that included HBF ended with lighter body weight (27396.5 vs. 29528 g). This is despite the observation that they were started with a heavier initial body weight (28392.8 vs. 25317.5 g). This discrepancy may relate to the rates of body weight changes among the lambs in the experimental group. Lambs in the control group gained weight faster (467.8 g wk-1) than the lambs in the treatment group, which lost weight at 110.7 g wk-1. The inclusion of HBF in the diet of growing lambs had no effects on apparent dry matter (DM) or CF digestibility coefficients. However, supplementing the RGH diet with HBF may improve the growth performance.

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