Effects of Concentrate Protein Levels on Growth and Development of Xinong Saanen Dairy Goat Lambs

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of different crude protein (CP) levels of concentrate on the growth and development of Xinong Sannen dairy goat lambs.60 lambs(40 male and 20 female) with good similarity in age (5 days) and birth weight were selected and randomly allocated to 4 groups. The groups M16 and M20 were males with 20 lambs per group,groups F16 and F20 were females with 10 lambs per group. The groups M16 and F16 were fed supplementary concentrate with 16% CP,the others were fed supplementary concentrate with 20% CP. The test lasted for 18 weeks,and the weight and body size indexes of the lambs were measured every 2 weeks,and the blood samples were collected and the biochemical indexes were analyzed. The results showed that the weight of lambs in 20% CP group had an increaseing trend than that in 16% CP group,and that was more apparent in male lamb. The body height,rump height,rump length,body length,chest depth and chest circumference of lambs in 20% CP group were greater than that of the 16% CP group.Male lambs seemed to have a faster tendency than female lambs in growth and development during the trial period.There was no significant effect on most of blood biochemical indexes among different CP levels groups (P >0.05).High CP level diet could easily trigger diarrhea.So,the feeding amount with high CP level concentrate should be controlled during lamb cultivation.Compared with 16% CP in concentrate,the 20% CP was more beneficial to grow and develop to the lambs.