Table 3.

Effect of microbial feed additives on feed intake and growth performance in lambs at d 0, d 21, d 42, and d 63

	Treatmentsb
Itema	CON (n = 7)	FP (n = 7)	SCFP (n = 7)	MSCFP (n = 7)	SEM	P-value
Intake, g/kg0.75 BW
DM	67.9	68.4	68.6	69.6	1.15	0.77
OM	64.5	65.0	65.2	66.1	1.06	0.78
CP	11.0	11.1	11.1	11.2	0.18	0.80
NDF	19.5	19.7	19.7	20.0	0.33	0.77
ADF	11.1	11.3	11.2	11.5	0.19	0.65
ME, MJ/kg0.75 BW	0.75	0.76	0.76	0.77	0.012	0.77
Initial BW, kg (0 d)	24.3	23.8	24.5	24.4	1.62	0.95
Final BW, kg
21 d	28.2	28.1	28.8	28.8	1.48	0.98
42 d	32.7	32.3	33.2	33.5	1.51	0.95
63 d	37.3	37.3	38.2	38.3	1.64	0.95
ADG, g
0–21 d	184	204	205	209	6.66	0.03
21–42 d	213	200	211	225	8.77	0.33
42–63 d	218	237	238	226	9.95	0.50
0–63 d	205	214	218	220	6.82	0.04
FE
0–21 d	0.203	0.230	0.222	0.226	0.01	0.01
21–42 d	0.207	0.192	0.198	0.205	0.01	0.69
42–63 d	0.196	0.208	0.204	0.192	0.01	0.71
0–63 d	0.202	0.209	0.207	0.206	0.01	0.94

^aBW, body weight; DM, dry matter; OM, organic matter; CP, crude protein; NDF, neutral detergent fiber; ADF, acid detergent fiber; ME, metabolizable energy ADG, average daily gain; FE, feed efficiency (gain:feed).

^bCON, without microbial additive; FP, Lactobacillus fermentum and Lactobacillus plantarum; SCFP, Saccharomyces cerevisiae (SC) plus FP; MSCFP, Megasphaera elsdenii plus SC plus FP.