Performance and carcass characteristics of Australian purebred and crossbred lambs supplemented with Rice Bran

Table 3 Means and standard errors (M ± SE) of liveweight, average daily gain and dry matter intake of prime lambs supplemented with rice bran

	Control	Rice bran low	Rice bran high	P value
Initial BW (kg)	35.8 ± 0.91	33.9 ± 1.19	35.6 ± 1.2	0.3441^ns
Final BW (kg)	44.5 ± 1.09	44.5 ± 1.84	43.4 ± 1.8	0.8359^ns
Total weight gain (kg)	8.7 ± 0.50	10.6 ± 1.19	7.8 ± 1.0	0.1253^ns
Av. Daily gain (g/day)	177.3 ± 10.24	216.0 ± 24.2	159.0 ± 19.6	0.1253^ns
Supp. Feed intake (g/day)^a	939.9	909.6	745.8	0.0553^ns
FCE^b	5.3	4.2	4.7	0.1523^ns
FCPUG^c	2.2	1.7	1.9	0.0653^ns

^aSupp. Feed intake (g/day) is based on the average intake per group divided by the number of animals per feeding group over the period of full supplementation (days 21–70). ^bFCE = Concentrate feed conversion efficiency (kg concentrate/kg BW per animal). ^cFCPUG = Feed cost per unit gain (Concentrate cost of feed/kg live weight gain ($AU/kg) per animal). Level of significance: ns not significant (p > 0.05)