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Abstract This study was carried out during the period from May/Jun 2012 to July/August 2013 at the experimental farm of the Animal Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Al–Azhar University, Assiut Branch. The objective of the present study was to determine the effects of using some medical and aromatic plant seeds mixture as feed additives and some environmental factors on some productive and physiological traits of Rahmani (R) and Chios (C) sheep. The constituents of feed additives mixture contained 50% Fenugreek, 30% Caraway, 10% Fennel and 10% Dill. Milk yield and its composition of lamb’s dams were also of studying interest. The results of this study indicated that the inclusion of some medical and aromatic plant seeds as feed additives in Rahmani and Chios diet: - Improves growth performance, feed intake and milk yield. from the results obtained, it could be concluded that supplementing lactating ewes’ diets with medicinal plant is highly recommended as a new step in the field of animal production in Egypt for improving productive performance of lactating ewes, regarding milk yield and composition. Using some medical and aromatic plant seeds with 6g/100 kg LBW as feed additives improved the productive performance of lambs regarding average daily gain, and feed conversion; and decreased the cost of feed/kg gain which is positively reflected on economical efficiency. Milk yield of Chios ewes was higher than Rahmani ones and the average daily milk yield was 698.84 and 580.1 g/day for Chios and Rahmani ewes, respectively. The moderate estimates in this study indicate the possibility of improving milk production of the Rahmani ewes through selection program or crossing with Chios sheep. Also, the Chios breed has potential to serve as a useful resource in increasing efficiency of sheep production in Upper Egypt and may have particular utility in low-input farming systems. |