SUMMARY: Sixteen Suffolk lambs with 29 ± 2·0 kg body weight were housed in individual cages for 60 days and allotted to four treatments in a completely randomized design to determine the effect of administration ofSalix babylonica(SB) extract and/or exogenous enzymes (ZADO^®) on lamb performance. Lambs were fed with 300 g/kg concentrate (160 g crude protein (CP)/kg, 13·4 MJ metabolizable energy (ME)/kg dry matter (DM)) and 700 g/kg maize silage (80 g/kg CP, 11·7 MJ ME/kg DM) as a basal diet (control). Another three treatments were tested; the SB extract was administered at 30 ml/day (SB) and exogenous enzymes ZADO^®(i.e. an exogenous enzyme cocktail in a powder form) directly fed at 10 g/day (EZ), while the last treatment contained ZADO^®at 10 g/day + SB extract at 30 ml/day (EZSB). Lambs of the treatment EZSB had the greatest average daily weight gain (ADG) and feed conversion throughout the period of the experiment. However, during the first 30 days SB was more effective for ADG than EZ andvice versaduring the last 30 days of the experiment. Water consumption was greater for SB, followed by EZ and EZSB compared to the control. Intakes of DM and organic matter (OM) were the highest in EZSB followed by EZ, which had the greatest neutral detergent fibre, acid detergent fibre (ADF) and nitrogen (N) intakes. The EZSB treatment had the greatest DM and OM digestibilities compared to the other treatments; however, SB had the greatest ADF digestibility. Combination of EZ and SB had the best N balance. Allantoin, total purine derivatives (PD), allantoin : -creatinine ratio, and PD : creatinine ratio were increased in EZSB compared to the other treatments. However, EZ supplementation increased uric acid concentration, whereas the microbial N (g N/day) and metabolizable protein (g N/day) were increased in EZSBversusthe other treatments. It can be concluded that addition of 10 g ZADO^®in combination withS. babylonicaextract at 30 ml/day in the diet of lambs increased feed intake, nutrient digestibility and daily gain, with a positive impact on the use of N and microbial protein synthesis.

Grazing cows could produce milk with a higher proportion of polyunsaturated fatty acids, which is beneficial to human health, compared with non-grazing cows, though grazing alone could compromise milk production. Under oceanic climate conditions, a study involving 15 dairy cows, fed total mixed ration (TMR)ad libitumin combination with different grazing times of 12 h (TMR12), 6 h (TMR06) and zero grazing time (TMR00) with the aim to evaluate different strategies on the fatty acids profile of milk and milk production. No differences were seen between the treatments with respect to milk yield (34·4±6·3 kg/d) or milk protein content (30·4±1·8 g/kg). The milk produced by the TMR12 cows had less total fat (36·2 vs. 38·2 g/kg) and saturated fatty acid (FA, 69·39 vs. 71·44 g/100 g FA) than that produced by the TMR00 cows. The concentration of vaccenic acid in the TMR06 and TMR12 milk was twice that of the TMR00 milk (4·22, 4·09 and 2·26 g/100 g FA respectively). Linear increases in conjugated linoleic (CLA) and linolenic acids were observed with increasing grazing time. Pasture was an important source of FA especially C18:3 for TMR06 and TMR12 cows. Under oceanic climatic conditions, the grazing of dairy cows as a complement to feeding with TMR can improve the FA profile of milk and increase its CLA content.