Abstract
Twenty-four Harnai lambs 6 to 7 month old, weighing $16{\pm}2kg$ were used in a completely randomized design in growth and digestibility trials to study fourwing saltbush ratio supplemented with cotton seed cake. The animal were divided at random into three groups of 8 animals each. Three iso-nitrogenous (10.5% CP) experimental rations (1, 2 and 3) containing wheat straw + lucerne hay (24:76); fourwing saltbush (Atriplex canescens) + cotton seed cake (71:29); and wheat straw + cottonseed cake (41:59); respectively, were allotted to each group randomly. All the animals were taken out for grazing in a dormant native range for about 3 hours in the afternoon during the growth trial. The growth trial lasted for 8 weeks followed by a digestibility trial. At the end of 8 weeks lambs on ration 3 had gained significantly (p<0.10) more weight compared to those on rations 1 and 2 which maintained their body weight. The crude protein digestibility of the fourwing saltbush based ration was comparable with the other two treatments (71 vs 70 and 71%). However, the digestibility of dry matter (41%), acid detergent fibre (13%) and neutral detergent fibre (22%) of this ration was significantly lower (p<0.10) than the other two diets. The results suggest that lambs can be maintained on fourwing saltbush during winter without significant loss in body weight with 30% extra protein concentrate supplementation.