Table 5.
Effect of feeding sesame meal (SM) on milk yield, milk composition, and yield of milk component of Awassi ewes fed lactation diets (Experiment 2).
| Diets * | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Item | SM0 (n = 10) | SM7.5 (n = 10) | SM15 (n = 10) | SEM |
| Milk yield, g/d | 1001 a | 1235 b | 1266 b | 80.8 |
| Milk composition, % | ||||
| Total Solids | 17.8 | 18.5 | 19.1 | 0.61 |
| Protein | 4.0 a | 4.5 b | 4.5 b | 0.19 |
| Fat | 6.8 | 6.7 | 7.2 | 0.31 |
| Milk component yield, g/d | ||||
| Total Solids | 177.4 a | 229.3 | 244.9 | 17.45 |
| Protein | 39.3 a | 55.3 b | 58.0 b | 3.71 |
| Fat | 67.9 a | 83.3 ab | 91.5 b | 7.27 |
| Cost/kg milk production (US$) | 0.72 a | 0.49 b | 0.43 b | 0.053 |
| Feed efficiency ** | 2.15 b | 1.65 a | 1.64 a | 0.23 |
Note: * Dietary treatments are (1) no sesame meal (SM0), (2) 7.5% sesame meal (SM7.5), or (3) 15% sesame meal (SM15) of dietary dry matter (DM) in substitution of soybean meal fed for 8 weeks; ** feed efficiency (DM intake: milk production); a,b within a row means without a common superscript difference (p ≤ 0.05).