Intake, Nutrient Apparent Digestibility, and Ruminal Constituents of Crossbred Dorper × Santa Inês Sheep Fed Diets with Babassu Mesocarp Flour

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect on intake, apparent digestibility, and ruminal constituents of sheep in response to the addition of increasing levels of babassu mesocarp flour (BMF) to the diet. Twenty crossbred sheep (29.17 ± 2.23 kg) were used in a randomized complete block design. Lambs were confined for 21 days, with 16 days for diet adaptation and 5 days for data collection, in which they were fed an isonitrogenous diet (16.5 ± 0.2 CP, DM basis) containing 70% of concentrate and 30% (DM basis) of Tifton 85 hay. Increasing levels of BMF were 0, 10, 20, and 30% (DM basis). There was a quadratic effect (P < 0.05) on the DM intake, nutrients intake, and digestibility of CP and NFC. The digestibility of DM, OM, TC, and NDF decreased linearly, while EE digestibility increased linearly with increasing levels of BMF. The high NDF content presented in the chemical composition of the babassu mesocarp flour ranked the same as fibrous food, which can limit the inclusion in the diet of high production animals. So, babassu mesocarp flour is an alternative for energy source in lambs feed and can be added at levels up to 10%.

Characteristics of Nutrition, Growth, Carcass and Meat of Male Goats Fed Babassu Mesocarp Flour

“…Although changes in kinetics of fermentation have been reported to result in a decrease of ruminal fermentation [4,24] and NDF digestibility [3] with BMF addition, because of the higher acid detergent fiber (ADF) content [25] in BMF, in this study, the NDF digestibility increased linearly.…”

“…It has been suggested that goats have a higher number of cellulolytic bacteria [8] and microbial protein production [26]. These factors could contribute to the results that differed from results reported with lambs [3]. However, the rate of digestion was related more to the diet than to the animal species consuming the diet [27].…”

“…However, there is a greater demand for grains, which are also used in human nutrition, in formulation of diets. Because of this, studies with co-product addition to replace conventional grains in ruminant diets have increased [2][3][4]. Among many vegetable species in Brazil, babassu (Attalea speciosa) is a palm tree found between the Cerrado and the Amazon Forest, which is native to the northern and northeastern states of Brazil [5].…”

“…The babassu mesocarp flour (BMF), extracted from mesocarp, is offered in the market at low cost. It is considered an energetic ingredient because of the high starch content [7] and has been used to replace ground corn in the diets of lambs [3,4].…”

“…Except for a few studies with lambs [3,4] that reported a decrease in dry matter intake, nutrient digestibility, and average daily gain, there is no available information on the efficacy of babassu mesocarp flour (BMF) addition in male goat diets. It is known that goat species are more efficient in fiber digestibility [8], and because of this, we hypothesized that male goats fed diets with BMF addition would have similar growth performance, carcass characteristics, and meat quality as those fed diets with conventional grains in the diet.…”