| Summary: | The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of replacing cereals and protein concentrates in a high-cereal concentrate (control) for light lambs with corn distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS; 18%), dried citrus pulp (DCP; 18%), and exhausted olive cake (EOC; 8%) in a byproduct (BYP) concentrate on growth performance, digestibility, ruminal fermentation, and plasma metabolites. Two homogeneous groups of Lacaune lambs (13.8 kg ± 0.25 kg) were fed one of each concentrates and barley straw <i>ad libitum</i> until reaching about 26 kg body weight. There were no differences between groups on feed intake, average daily gain, or feed conversion ratio, but the control diet had greater (<i>p</i> < 0.001) dry matter digestibility. Diet had no effect on post-mortem ruminal pH and total volatile fatty acid concentrations and profile, but NH<sub>3</sub>-N concentrations were lower (<i>p</i> = 0.003) for the BYP-fed group compared with the control one. However, plasma concentrations of amino acids, total proteins, urea, and hepatic enzymes were not affected by the diet. In conclusion, 44% of feed ingredients in the concentrate for light lambs can be replaced with a mixture of corn DDGS, DCP, and EOC without negatively affecting growing performance and animal health.
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