Economic analysis of the finishing of lambs under confinement conditions using licuri cake ( Syagrus coronata Mart. Becc.)

Abstract

SUMMARY The present study endeavors to determine the impact of the inclusion of licuri tart in the diet of finishing lambs, Santa Inês mestizos, by evaluating the economic parameters. For this purpose, a total of 44 lambs, including both uncastrated as well as vaccinated and wormed lambs, with an average age of six months and a mean body weight of 21.2 kg ± 2.7 kg, were employed. Initially, the lambs were fed on the diet which consisted of 40% Tifton-85 hay and 60% of a concentrated mixture, mainly composed of ground corn grain, soybean meal, mineral premix, being further followed by the inclusion of the licuri cake at four different levels (a) 0.0, (b) 8.0,(c) 16.0, and (d) 24% with respect to the dry matter. Principally, the soybean meal and milled corn were replaced by the licuri cake with these levels, thereby constituting four treatments and 11 replicates (11 lambs per treatment) in a completely randomized design. Further, for subjecting the lambs to the above mentioned four different levels of treatment, the lambs were confined for 70 days. The analysis of various economic parameters revealed that upon including the licuri cake up to the level of 24%, the operation cost decreases, which in turn results in higher profitability. However, its cost at the time of use will eventually determine its use for feeding lambs, because of the possible price variations of the ingredients used to formulate the diets along with the model of production of the rural property.

Effect of dietary inclusion of licuri cake on intake, feeding behavior, and performance of feedlot cull cows

“…Licuri cake (LC) is an oilseed by-product whose chemical composition includes (mean ± standard deviation) 927.3 ± 38.6 g/kg dry matter, 238.2 ± 19.2 g/kg crude protein, 109.9 ± 29.1 g/kg ether extract, 473.9 ± 68.9 g/kg neutral detergent fiber, 173.1 ± 43.5 g/kg acid detergent lignin, and 89.4 ± 29.0 g/kg non-fibrous carbohydrates (Borja et al, 2014;Ferreira et al, 2017;Costa et al, 2019). The crude protein in LC is rich in neutral and acid detergent insoluble protein (Silva et al, 2015), and its ether extract is rich in short-and medium-chain fatty acids (Costa et al, 2018).…”