Substituição do Feno de Capim Elefante por Palma Forrageira em dietas para Ovinos

Abstract

a study was conducted to determine the effects of replacing elephantgrass with spineless cactus (0, 14, 28, 42 and 56%) as a forage source on intake, ruminal fermentation parameters and total tract nutrient digestibilities. Five male sheep were used in a 5X5 Latin square experiment with 13-day periods (7 days for adaptation and 6 days for data collection). Results showed that intakes of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM),ether extract (EE), crude protein (CP), total carbohydrate (TC), non-fiber carbohydrate (NFC), and total digestible nutrient (TDN) increased linearly while water intake decreased linearly as the level of cactus in the diet increased. However, intake of neutral detergent fiber (NDF) increased quadratically as the level of cactus in the diet increased. Total tract digestibility of EE, CP, NFC, and NDF were not affected by cactus inclusion rate. However, digestibility of DM, OM and TC increased linearly as the level of cactus in the diet increased. Ruminal pH and NNH3 concentration decreased linearly as the level of cactus in the diet increased. It was concluded that replacing elephant-grass with cactus as a forage source improved feed intake and total tract nutrient utilization.