The forage palm (Nopalea cochenillifera 'Miúda') is well adapted to the climate of semi-arid regions and a strategic source of water and energy for ruminant animals (Pinho et al., 2018). It has low levels of dry matter (DM) (142.0 g/kg), crude protein (CP) (33.8 g/kgDM) and neutral detergent fibre (NDF) (267.0 g/kgDM), and a high proportion of non-fibrous carbohydrates (NFC), 567.0 g/kgDM (Cardoso et al., 2019).Supplying forage palm as exclusive feed to ruminants can lead to acidosis, a metabolic disorder which results in diarrhoea and weight loss (Tegegne et al., 2007), requiring correction of the effective NDF in the diet to maintain the activities of chewing, rumination, saliva flow and ruminal pH buffering (Li et al., 2014), with positive results in preventing the depression of DM intake, ruminal peristaltism, microbial production and fibre digestibility (Vieira et al., 2008).There are several sources of effective fibre which have the potential for use in diets of forage palm. Sunflower or sorghum silage, and hay from leucaena, pigeon pea or elephant grass are good alternatives for supplying effective fibre in diets of forage palm for sheep in semi-arid regions (Wanderley et al., 2012).
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