Protein source in diets for ruminant nutrition

The rapid increase in human population leads to increased demand for animal protein. On the other hand, the deficit of protein feeds in the market and rising costs are the most significant obstacles facing animal production. Therefore, most researches have focused on improving the status and utilization of different protein sources in order to reduce costs and maintain optimum performance of animals. The results of our study showed that lambs of MIS population, of average body weight of 18.0 kg, fed diets with different protein sources: sunflower meal, soybean meal, fish meal, realized average daily gain: 0.169, 0.205 and 0.227 kg, respectively. Conversion of dry matter in analogue treatments was: 4.54, 3.71 and 3.30 (kg/kg of gain) and total protein (g/kg): 732, 596 and 549, respectively. It is evident that the fish meal as a protein source improves the growth and utilization of food in lambs. However, given that the European Commission has banned the use of fish meal in diets for animal nutrition, nutritionists' imperative is to investigate the possibility of using "unconventional" sources of protein (peas, beans, lupins) in diets for ruminant nutrition. The aim of this study was to compare the effects of different sources of protein in diets on production performance of ruminants.