Journal of NACAA

Hydroponic Barley Fodder Feed Tests on Replacement Rams and Ewes

ISSN 2158-9429

Volume 8, Issue 2 - December 2015

Editor: Bindu Poudel-Ward

Abstract

These tests were conducted to evaluate the effect of barley fodder produced by a hydroponic system on the performance of replacement rams and ewes. In a completely block randomized test 31 replacement ewes and rams were assigned to one of the two treatments (diets) that were either control (alfalfa hay and corn/ barley grain) or fodder ( alfalfa hay, corn/barley grain, and sprouted barley). Rations were balanced in both tests and two separate tests were ran over a two year period. Each feed test lasted 100 days in length. Seed grade barely was grown in a hydroponic chamber with a growth period of 6 days. Body weight gain was not significantly different between the treatments at the (P<0.05) level. Control sheep gained 0.64 pounds per day and the sprouted barley fed sheep gained 0.54 pounds per day, collectively over the two 100 day trails. The fodder animals also consumed more dry matter on a daily basis. From an economical view, the control group had an average cost of $0.54 per head per day and the fodder group had an average cost of $0.96 per head per day. On a cost per pound of gain the control group was $0.89 per pound of gain and the fodder group was $1.71 per pound of gain. These costs showed no significant difference at the (P<0.05) level.  The author understands there should be more replication, repetition, and application of treatments.  These findings suggested that hydroponic fodder had no advantage over alfalfa hay and grain in replacement ewes and rams on average daily gain, while it increased the cost of the total ration.