EFFECT OF Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni IN FEED FOR LACTATING LAMBS ON THEIR DEVELOPMENT, FOOD CONSUMPTION, SERUM PROTEIN LEVEL, MORTALITY AND COST

Abstract

Stevia (Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni) has a sweet taste, which compared to that of sugar is between 200 and 300 times stronger, in addition to providing beneficial effects for the organism. The effect of including Stevia in the diet of lactating lambs using third-quality leaf powder, adding it to the creep feeding® concentrate, was evaluated. The treatments were with Stevia at 0.5 % (T1) and the control without adding Stevia (T2). The response variables were weight at birth (PN), weight at weaning after 60 days (PD), daily average gain (GDP), consumption of feed T1 and T2 (CA), survival of lambs (SC), mortality of lambs (MC), and total serum proteins (PST) at weaning. A cost analysis of the amount of feed and mortality of lambs was carried out. It was found that the GDP had a statistical difference (P<0.01), being for T1 of 175.42±3.46b gr day^-1 for each kg vs T2 of 155.30±2.91a gr day^-1 for each kg, respectively. For the CA an increase of 40.5 % was found in the T1 compared to the T2. In what refers to the MC an increase of 9.1 % was observed in T2 vs T1, (P<0.01). In PST, it was higher in T1 with 4.4 g dl^-1 vs 3.8 g dl^-1 for T2. The cost of losses from mortality was $2,250 MX in T2, compared to $450 MX in T1, and the differential per treatments $473.25 MX, and the comparison of loss from MC and increase from CA indicated that although the CA was higher it was paid and represented less losses from MC.