Effects of additives in rehydrated corn silage with industrial tomato waste on intake, digestibility, ruminal parameters, and performance of feedlot-finished lambs

There are doubts as to whether or not rehydrated corn silage with industrial tomato waste (ITW) requires additives. Thus, study aimed to evaluate the effects of different additives in rehydrated corn silage with ITW on feed intake, nutrient digestibility, ruminal parameters, nitrogen balance, ingestive behavior, and performance of feedlot-finished lambs. Twenty-four intact Dorper × Santa Inˆes crossbred male lambs, averaging 20.88 ± 1.84 kg of initial body weight and 100 days of age, were used. Four experimental diets were tested: (1) rehydrated corn silage with ITW and without additives; (2) rehydrated corn silage with ITW and a bacterial-enzymatic inoculant; (3) rehydrated corn silage with ITW plus 2% powdered sugarcane molasses; and (4) rehydrated corn silage with ITW including both a bacterial-enzymatic inoculant and 2% powdered sugarcane molasses, on a natural matter basis. The roughage-to-concentrate ratio was 50:50, based on dry matter (DM). The experiment followed a completely randomized design with four treatments and six replicates. No differences were observed among diets in dry matter intake (p= 0.33), crude protein intake (p= 0.83), non-fibrous carbohydrate intake (p= 0.16), or total digestible nutrient intake (p= 0.92). Final body weight, average daily gain, hot carcass weight, hot carcass yield, and feed efficiency were 32.02 kg, 0.232 kg day⁻¹, 14.21 kg, 44.42%, and 0.23 kg of DM kg⁻¹, respectively. These findings indicate that adding bacterial-enzymatic inoculant or powdered sugarcane molasses to rehydrated corn silage with ITW is unnecessary in feedlot diets for finishing lambs.