Table 2.

Effect of silybum marianum meal as a replacement for soybean meal on feed intake and growth performance of lambs.

Item	Treatment	SEM	p-value	CON (n = 21)	SIL (n = 21)
Initial weight (Kg)	21.09			22.00	0.26	0.307
Final weight (Kg)	31.61	32.92	0.39	0.398
Average dry matter intake (Kg)	1.29	1.22	0.02	0.477
Average daily gain (Kg)	0.167	0.173	0.01	0.771
Ratio of feed to gain (F/G)	8.20	7.48	0.18	0.272

CON = supplemented with 10% soybean meal; SIL = supplemented with 10% silybum marianum meal.

Values are expressed as means ± SEM, n = 21. p < 0.05 was regarded as statistically significant, and 0.05 < p < 0.10 was regarded as a statistical tendency.

Average daily feed intake = total feed intake / test days; Ratio of feed to gain (F/G) = average daily feed intake/average daily gain.