Ivan Slavov, Nikolay Ivanov and Stayka Laleva
Agricultural Academy, Agricultural Institute, 6000 Stara Zagora, Bulgaria
Slavov, I., Ivanov, N. & Laleva, S. (2024). Effect of dietary probiotics and prebiotics on the growth performance and meat quality of Ile-de-France lambs. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 30(4), 660–665
The research study was conducted in the sheep farm of the Agricultural Institute – Stara Zagora. It included 45 Ile-de- France lambs divided into three groups with 15 animals each: one control and two experimental.
The lambs from experimental group I were individually supplemented with 8 g Immunobeta prebiotic on a daily basis, whereas lambs from experimental group II received the same amount of prebiotic plus 4 g Zoovit probiotic.
The following parameters were monitored – live body weight at the beginning and the end of the experiment, daily weight gain and slaughter age in days. The experiment lasted until a live weight of 23–25 kg was attained. Then 5 male lambs from each group were slaughtered, samples from musculus Longissimus Lumborum were collected and meat chemical composition and technological properties were analyzed.
It was demonstrated that the weight gain of lambs from experimental group I was by 21.74% (Р ≤ 0.01) higher, and that of lambs from experimental group II: by 17.39% (Р ≤ 0.01) higher compared to controls. Both supplemented groups attained slaughter live weight over a shorter period compared to the control group (Р ≤ 0.001). The meat WHC was lower in the two experimental groups vs controls, indicating that the loss of moisture from m. LL meat in these groups was higher than that of controls. In summary, the study allowed concluding that the dietary supplementation of lambs with 8 g Immunobeta prebiotic and 4 g Zoovit probiotic + 8 g Immunobeta prebiotic had a beneficial effect on the growth performance of animals.