Effect of different levels of Quebracho tannin on nitrogen utilization and growth performance of Najdi sheep fed alfalfa (Medicago sativa) hay as a sole diet

A commercial tannin source (Quebracho tannin, QT), containing 75% condensed tannins (CT) in dry matter (DM) was used to evaluate the effects of addition of different levels of QT to alfalfa hay on the in vitro degradation kinetics of organic matter (OM) and nitrogen (N) in experiment 1 (Exp. 1), N utilization and microbial N synthesis (MNS) in experiment 2 (Exp. 2) and growth performance of growing Najdi lambs in experiment 3 (Exp. 3). Alfalfa hay was treated with QT at the levels of 0, 1, 2 and 3% of DM to form four treatments of QT0, QT1, QT2 and QT3 to have actual levels of CT being 0, 0.75, 1.5 and 2.25% of DM, respectively. Degradation rate and the effective degradability of N were significantly decreased ( P  < 0.05) for QT2 and QT3 as compared with the QT0. In Exp. 2, digestibility coefficients for OM, neutral detergent fiber and acid detergent fiber were significantly decreased ( P  < 0.05) at QT3, whereas QT1 and QT2 showed no difference toQT0. In the metabolism trial (Exp. 2), digested N (DN) and urinary N (UN) excretion for QT2 and QT3 were significantly decreased ( P  < 0.05) compared to QT0 and QT1. The DN and UN as percentage of N intake were 79.2, 76.9, 75.5 and 69.8%; and 24.4, 22.6, 19.9 and 19.6% for QT0, QT1, QT2 and QT3, respectively. QT2 had the highest MNS and the lowest value was in QT3, the MNS of the treatments were 18.1, 18.7, 19.2 and 15.8 g/day for QT0, QT1, QT2 and QT3, respectively. In the growth trial of 56 days duration (Exp. 3, n  = 24 lambs), the addition of QT at the level of QT2 enhanced ( P  < 0.05) the average daily gain and feed conversion rate compared with the QT0, while, QT1 and QT3 had intermediate values. It is concluded that alfalfa hay treated with QT at the level of 2% of DM could be used to protect alfalfa N from ruminal degradation that would lead to improve growth performance of lambs.