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Abstract

The objective of the current study was to assess the effects of tannic acid supplementation on growth performance, nutrients digestibility, and blood urea nitrogen in the Lohi male lambs. Fifteen animals with an average age of 9-10 months and live body weight of 26.4 ± 0.52 kg were selected randomly. Three total mixed rations (TA0, TA4, TA8) having tannic acid 0, 4 g and 8 g/animal/day, respectively were given to the lambs (n = 5/treatment) for a period of 60 days under a Completely Randomized Design. Data regarding dry matter intake, body weight gain, nutrients digestibility, feed efficiency and blood urea nitrogen were collected. No significant difference (p > 0.05) was observed among the treatments in dry matter intake, body weight gain, apparent digestibility of nutrients, and feed efficiency. The blood urea nitrogen levels were significantly lower (17.0 mg/dL) in the TA8 treatment group compared to the TA0 group (22.1 mg/dL; SE = 1.3), indicating the protein bypass characteristic of tannic acid. It was concluded that supplementation of tannin may not have appreciable effects on growth performance and digestibility of the nutrients in lambs, but bypass value of protein was increased.