EFFECT OF USING BENTONITE IN AWASSI EWES RATIONS ON MILK PRODUCTION AND COMPOSITION

This study was conducted on 36 Awassi ewes at different ages(2,3 and 4 year old) together with their single lambs in sheep farm Mosul Technical Institute. Ewes were divided into four groups according to their ages ,and fed on four rations containing different levels of bentonite( 0,1,2 and 3% respectively ), after parturition for 12 weeks ( weaning time ), to study the effect of bentonite level on milk production and chemical composition. The overall mean of the total and daily milk yield during 12 weeks were 79.534 and 0.88 Kg respectively, the results revealed that bentonait levels in ration had significantly (p> 0.05) effect on daily and total milk yield, were ration of 2% bentonite showed better milk yield. However age of dam and sex of lambs had no significant effect on daily and total milk yield. The results showed that percentages of protein and total solid not fat were increased significantly(p>0.05),while milk fat percentage was decreased significantly (p>0.05) the total solid ratio was significantly decreased (p>0.05)in ration content 3% bentonite .Level of bentonite in the diet had no significant effect on lactose,total solid and minerals.The results showed that age of dam had a significant effect( p >0.05) on fat ,protein, total solid ,and total solid not fat ,while sex of lamb had no significant effect on milk chemical composition.