In this study we examined the effects of different feed concentrates on sheep behaviour. Our hypothesis was that citric pulp would stimulate rumination and be capable of replacing other concentrates traditionally used for feeding in confinement, to reduce the risk of urolithiasis. Ten adult Santa Inês sheep were distributed in a Latin square with five different diets, one control diet with 80% hay and 20% commercial feed and four diets containing 30% coast-cross hay and 70% of the following concentrates: pelleted citrus pulp, citrus pulp meal, cornmeal or wheat bran. After 21d of adaptation to each one of the five diets, the sheep were visually monitored for 24 h at 3 min intervals to record the time spent ruminating, time spent eating and time spent resting; the animals' positions (standing or lying down) were also noted. Daytime was considered to be from 06:00h to 18:00h. The data were evaluated using ANOVA, with Tukey post-hoc test or throughout Two-sample T test for circadian and position assessment. Citrus pulp diets resulted in time spent ruminating similar to the control diet (601, 590 and 669 min, respectively), but greater (P<0.05) than the cornmeal group (421min), which showed that citrus pulp generated effective rumination. The estimated saliva production in the control diet (26L) was greater than in the other groups, and was greater in the citrus pulp groups (24L/d) than cornmeal (21L/d). Feeding with cornmeal led to shorter time spent eating and time spent ruminating than all other diets. The sheep had higher time spent resting at night when fed concentrates (P<0.05). For all diets, about 90% of the time spent ruminating occurred with the animals lying down. Pelleted citrus pulp, citrus pulp meal and to a lesser degree wheat bran, led to adequate time spent ruminating. The use of citrus pulp can act as a preventive management measure to reduce the incidence of urolithiasis in sheep flocks.Keywords: feed behaviour, citric pulp, rumination, urolithiasis, cornmeal Palavras-chave: comportamento alimentar, polpa cítrica, ruminação, urolitíase, fubá de milho RESUMO

ResumoOito ovinos, da raça Santa Inês, receberam dieta controle (C) (80% de feno de capim coast-cross e 20% de concentrado comercial) e em seguida foram submetidos a experimento em quadrado latino com dietas contendo 30% desse feno e 70% dos concentrados: polpa cítrica peletizada (PCP); polpa cítrica farelada (PCF); fubá de milho (FM) e farelo de trigo (FT). Depois de 21 dias de adaptação às dietas, foi realizada monitoração visual por 24 h. No dia subsequente à observação, na terceira hora após a alimentação, foram coletadas amostras de conteúdo ruminal, urina e sangue. No conteúdo ruminal foi determinado o pH, nas amostras de urina foram efetuadas análises de pH, ureia, fósforo, creatinina e exame de sedimento, e no sangue foram realizadas determinações séricas de ureia, fósforo e creatinina. Foram calculados o ín-dice de excreção urinária (IEUP) e a taxa de excreção fracional (TEFP) do fósforo. Os dados foram avaliados por análise de variância e Teste de Tukey ou Mann-Whitney. Foi realizada a análise de correlação entre pares de variáveis. Tanto a PCP como a PCF estimularam significativamente a ruminação, semelhante ao grupo controle, e com maior tempo que o FM (P < 0,05). Maiores concentrações de P sérico, IEUP e TEFP foram encontradas na dieta FT (P < 0,05). Quanto maiores os teores de P sérico maior o IEUP (r = 0,78). Quanto maior o tempo devotado à ruminação menor foi o fós-foro sanguíneo (r = 0,62). A maior ruminação diminuiu os teores de fósforo sérico e sua excreção urinária, diminuindo assim a predisposição à urolitíase em ovinos.Palavras-chave: Urolitíase. Polpa cítrica. Ruminação. Cristais. AbstractEight adult Santa Inês sheep received a control diet (C) (80% of coast-cross hay and 20% of commercial feed) and then they were submitted to a Latin square experiment with diets containing 30% of hay and 70% of the following concentrates: pelleted citrus pulp (PCP), citrus pulp meal (PCF), cornmeal (FM) or wheat bran (FT). After 21 days of adaptation to the diets visual monitoring was performed for 24 h. On the day after the visual observation samples of rumen content, urine and blood were taken at the 3rd hour after feeding. Rumen content was analyzed for pH; urine samples were analyzed for pH, urea, phosphorus, creatinine and sediment examination. Blood samples were used for serum determinations of urea, creatinine and phosphorus. The index of urinary excretion of phosphorus (IEUP) and fractional excretion rate of phosphorus (TEFP) were calculated. Data were evaluated by analysis of variance and Tukey test or Mann-Whitney test. Pearson correlation analysis was made to compare variables. Both the PCP and PCF significantly stimulated rumination, similar to the control group, being higher when compared with the FM diet. Increased concentrations of serum P, IEUP and TEFP were found in the FT diet (P < 0.05). The higher the serum levels of P, the higher the P excretion in the urine (r = 0.78). The higher the time devoted to rumination, the lower the serum P concentrations (r 2 = 0.62). The increased ruminati...

No abstract