عثمان عزیزی

The past researches have showed that Oak acorn can be replaced by barley grain in ruminant ′s diet. The results of some studies indicate that acorns contain an anti-nutritional factor (tannin) that has some effects on ruminants such as a reduction in nutrients digestibility. High level of tannin can reduce voluntary feed intake, whereas low to moderate level may improve the digestive utilization of feed mainly due to a reduction in protein degradation in rumen and an increase in amino acid flow to the small intestine. There is evidence that goats may be less susceptible to toxic effects of tannin, and microbial tanninase enzymes are thought to be responsible. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of replacing oak acorn with barley grain on dry matter intake (DMI), water intake (WI), live weight (LW), average daily gain (ADG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR). Twentyfour Markhoz kids (mean BW 16.93Â ± 1.25 kg and 4–5 mo of age) were used in a randomized complete design with 4 treatments (diets) including: a) control (barley), b) 8% oak acorn, C) 17% oak acorn, and d) 25% oak acorn of dry matter diet. The forage to concentrate ratio was a 60:40 in diets. The experimental period lasted for 105 d. the Last square means of dry matter intake (g/d) and water intake (l/d) were 880, 903, 942, 961 and 2.578, 2.653, 2.753, 2.798, respectively for treatments 1 to 4 and there was not any significant effect of treatments on these parameters (P > 0.05). LW, ADG, and FCR were 30.683, 31.117, 31.567, 31.950 and 130, 136, 140, 141 and 6.87, 6.67, 6.78, 6.86, respectively for treatments 1 to 4 and there were not any significant effects between treatments for LW (kg), ADG (g/d) and FCR (P > 0.05). Based on our results it can be concluded that acorns can substitution with barely at 25% without any problem on kid′s performance.