Table 2 Effect of feeding BF on growth performances and feed cost effectiveness of sheep

Feed intake

 Total feed intake, kg

32.14^a

25.50^b

31.00^a

1.18

0.028

 Daily feed intake, kg/d

1.15^a

0.91^b

1.11^a

0.04

0.028

Digestibility

 DM, %

73.70^a

64.75^b

71.78^a

70.07

< 0.001

 NDF, %

53.96^a

46.29^b

55.70^a

51.98

< 0.001

 ADF, %

43.64^ab

40.66^b

46.45^a

43.58

0.023

Body weight gain

 Initial weight, kg

26.98

25.80

26.25

0.87

0.880

 Final weight, kg

33.61

29.95

32.68

1.02

0.342

 Total weight gain, kg

6.64^a

4.15^b

6.43^a

0.36

< 0.001

 Daily weight gain, kg/d

0.24^a

0.15^b

0.23^a

0.01

< 0.001

Feed efficiency

0.21^a

0.16^b

0.21^a

0.01

0.023

Cost effectiveness

 Cost for forage, RMB/d

1.84^a

0.19^c

0.32^b

0.23

< 0.001

 Cost for concentrate, RMB/d

1.94^ab

1.84^b

2.23^a

0.08

0.073

 Total cost, RMB/d

3.78^a

2.02^c

2.54^b

0.23

< 0.001

 Feed cost, RMB/kg live weight gain

15.98^a

13.77^b

11.09^c

0.72

0.004