Environmental Temperature Influences Diet Selection and Growth in Early-Weaned Lambs

The objective of the present study was to trace the influence of environmental temperature on growth and feed consumption in early-weaned lambs from dairy sheep breeds. The experiment was conducted in 2015 at the experimental farm of the Institute of Forage Crops, Pleven, Bulgaria using 36 lambs of the Blackhead Pleven sheep breed. The animals were divided into three groups (12 animals per group). Each group was divided into 6 sub groups (2 lambs per pen and divided into three experimental premises, each with a dif-ferent environmental temperature. The lambs reared at an average temperature of 12.6 °C grew significantly faster (P<0.01), than the lambs reared at 5.1 °C and -3.0 °C. The animals grown at an average temperature of -3.0 °C, consumed a larger quantity of maize (P<0.01) and a lower amount of pelleted protein concen-trate (PPC, P<0.01). In the animals grown at an average temperature of 12.6 °C, the tendency for consump-tion is reversed (higher PPC consumption and less maize). In this case, when the lambs were grown at a temperature of 12.6 °C the percentage of crude protein in the dry matter chosen is the highest at 22.0%.