Cactus Pear as Roughage Source Feeding Confined Lambs: Performance, Carcass Characteristics, and Economic Analysis

Abstract

The effect of diets containing 0% of wheat bran levels (control buffel grass and cactus pear) contrasted with diets with cactus pear as the only forage source and wheat bran levels (30; 37 and 44%) on nutrient digestibility, feed intake, animal performance, carcass characteristics, and economic analysis was evaluated. Twenty-eight male, non-castrated crossbred lambs (22.6 ± 2.37 kg) were submitted to confinement for 62 days. A completely randomized design was used with four treatments and seven repetitions. Four diets were formulated considering an intended mean daily weight gain of 200 g/animal/day. Means were compared by contrasts using Dunnett test at 5%. Animals fed cactus pear as the only roughage source (diets with 30; 37, and 44% of wheat bran) had lower dry matter intake and nutrient intake, Average Dairy Gain, and total weight gain than animals fed the control diet. Final body weight and slaughter weight of animals fed 44% of wheat bran was similar to the animals fed the control diet. Hot and cold carcass yields were higher in animals fed cactus pear and 30 and 37% of wheat bran. Feeding costs were lower when cactus pear was used as the only roughage source associated with wheat bran and consequently profit was greater. The use of cactus pear as the only roughage source associated with up to 44% of wheat bran is a viable alternative of the diet to confined lambs without modifying carcass characteristics with greater cost:benefit ratio.

Effect of feeding on different levels of crushed cactus in total mixed rations on fattening performance, carcass characteristics, and meat quality of Awassi sheep

“…However, ADG observed in this study (216.7 -219.1 g/day) were lower than that reported by Suliman et al (2021) (310 g/day) but higher than that of Shaker et al (2002) (207 g/day), and Jawasreh et al (2019) (180 g/day) for the same breed. Slaughter weight (42.7 -44.5 kg), hot carcass weight (19.7 -20.7 kg), and cold carcass weight (19.1 -20.1 kg) varied considerably, whereas, cold carcass yield (44.5 -46.6 %) and chilling loss (2.2 -3.1 %) were corroborated by earlier studies (Greer and Jones 1997;Carrasco et al 2009;Suliman et al 2021;Silva et al 2021;Atsbha et al 2021). Ramírez-Retamal et al (2013) found that carcasses with smaller D values but more F value showed the highest compactness which is in line with the results of earlier studies (Carrasco et al 2009;Diaz et al 2002).…”

“…However, its use is limited by drastic variation in chemical composition, such as dry matter (3.7 -94%), crude protein (3.3 -11.6%), crude fiber (8.5 -34%), and in vitro digestibility (66.7 -90%). These drastic variations may result in non-pathological diarrhoea, bloat, and weight loss when cactus is used as the only source of fiber in small ruminant feeding (Tegegne et al 2007;Maciel et al 2018;Silva et al 2021). Therefore, it is used in combination with different types of feedstuffs to reduce these unwanted outcomes, such as Tifton 85 hay (Vieira et al 2008), soybean hulls (Souza et al 2009), whole cotton seed (Costa et al 2012), sugarcane bagasse (Pessoa et al 2013), Maniçoba hay and silage (Maciel et al 2018), and wheat bran as energy concentrate (Silva et al 2021).…”

“…These drastic variations may result in non-pathological diarrhoea, bloat, and weight loss when cactus is used as the only source of fiber in small ruminant feeding (Tegegne et al 2007;Maciel et al 2018;Silva et al 2021). Therefore, it is used in combination with different types of feedstuffs to reduce these unwanted outcomes, such as Tifton 85 hay (Vieira et al 2008), soybean hulls (Souza et al 2009), whole cotton seed (Costa et al 2012), sugarcane bagasse (Pessoa et al 2013), Maniçoba hay and silage (Maciel et al 2018), and wheat bran as energy concentrate (Silva et al 2021). Considering optimizing dietary energy level and endorsing ruminal health, this study was conducted with the objective to evaluate the effects of adding different levels of crushed cactus on the fattening performance, carcass characteristics, and meat quality of confined sheep.…”

Growth Performance, Carcass Characteristics and Economic Viability of Nguni Cattle Fed Diets Containing Graded Levels of Opuntia ficus-indica

“…In this study, however, the cactus diets, particularly the 10% inclusion level, tended to reduce inclusion costs of these ingredients and increased the average gain/return during drought scenario. The same was true in the study by De Waal et al [38] and Balduíno da Silva et al [39], where sheep fed diets containing spineless cactus attained higher economic returns/body gains than non-cactus diets. The trend changed for the drought scenario where a 20% cactus inclusion level resulted in lower average gain/return.…”

Chemical Properties, Ruminal Fermentation, Gas Production and Digestibility of Silages Composed of Spineless Cactus and Tropical Forage Plants for Sheep Feeding

“…The association of a spineless cactus to buffel grass, pornunça and gliricidia in the composition of mixed silages reduces the levels of NDFap and ADF that these plants present in their composition; therefore, the reduction in fibrous fractions contributed to the rapid ruminal emptying, since the spineless cactus does not have enough fiber to limit consumption through physical filling [43], which favored the obtained results. In this sense, we can infer that the supplementation of these forage plants can provide small ruminants with a silage of high nutritional value.…”