Effects of diet supplementation with Purslane (Portulaca Oleracea L.) on Growth Performance of Moghani Lamb

Purslane (Portulaca Oleracea L.) known as a wild plant is a reasonable selection for study due to its high nutritive and antioxidant properties as human food, animal feed and medical utilization. An experiment was conducted to evaluate effects of diet supplementation with dried leaves and stems of Purslane on lambs performance. Twenty Moghani lambs (27 ± 3 kg BW) were assigned in four treatment with five replicates, and were fed diets containing 0% Purslane (control), 5, 10 and 15 % Purslane (T1, T2 and T3, and T4 respectively) for 90 days of experiment. The lambs were slaughtered after performance calculation to evaluate cold carcass percentage. Adding Purslane to diet up to 15 % as substituted amounts with alfalfa did not showed any significant difference on performance and cold carcass. But, considering high nutritive value and lower price of Purslane in compared to alfalfa, it seems have an economic advantage in feed prices and livestock production cost.