Performance of lambs supplemented with fodder salt Gliricidia sepium (Jacq.)

Abstract

-The objective of this experiment was to evaluate productive performance of lambs fed different levels of Gliricidia sepium (Jacq.) in the making of gliricidia forage salt. A total of 30 180-day-old male crossbred Santa Inês lambs of 25 kg body weight were confined in 1 m 2 stalls, fed Tifton-85 (Cynadon spp.) hay, fodder salts and water ad libitum. The experimental design was randomized, composed of six repetitions of five treatments. The formulation of gliricidia forage salt was 0 (100% NaCl), 93, 95, 97 and 99% gliricidia hay with 7, 5, 3 and 1% NaCl, respectively. The experiment was conducted for 74 d, with 14 d for adaptation and 60 d for sampling. Gliricidia forage salt supplementation showed no effect (P>0.05) on dry matter, organic matter or neutral detergent fiber intake, although it affected (P<0.05) crude protein and ether extract intake. The highest performance of animals was observed in gliricidia forage salt with 99% addition of gliricidia.

Feed value of Gliricidia fodder salt for sheep

“…The higher intakes of CP and EE observed in the present study in the group of lambs supplemented with GFS compared with those receiving only NaCl is attributed to the consumption of Gliricidia in the fodder salt, since this legume had a higher CP and EE content in its composition than TGH did (Table 1). This finding is similar to those observed by Cirne et al (2012), who obtained higher CP and EE intake by animals supplemented with GFS; by Gonçalves et al (2008), who observed greater CP intake in animals receiving supplementation based on fodder salt from Leucaena and cassava shoots; and by , who recorded a higher CP intake for animals supplemented with fodder salt from Leucaena and cassava shoots. ) were not influenced (P>0.05) by the experimental diets (Table 5).…”

“…There was an increasing linear effect (P<0.05) for GFS intake as the levels of inclusion of Gliricidia were increased, with every 10 g/kg −1 of inclusion in the fodder salt increasing total GFS intake by 0.010 kg. The average GFS intake of 0.118 kg day −1 was similar to the 0.102 kg day −1 found by Cirne et al (2012), who evaluated the performance of feedlot Santa Inês mixed-breed lambs supplemented with GFS; and higher than the 0.066 kg day −1 observed by in Santa Inês mixed-breed sheep supplemented with GFS. However, for animals supplemented with fodder salt from cassava shoots and Leucaena, and Gonçalves et al (2008) , respectively.…”

“…One example is the fodder salt, defined as a mixture of mineral salt with ground hay made from some eudicotyledons, which is a potential low-cost technology for application in small-ruminant production systems, especially those managed on pasture . The use of fodder salt from Leucaena, cassava shoots, and Gliricidia, in sheep diets, provides better performance to supplemented animals (STRADA et al, 2006;GONÇALVES et al, 2008;CIRNE et al, 2012).…”

The forage yield of Gliricidia sepium during the rainy and dry seasons following pruning management in Brazil

“…Additionally, Gliricidia can be used to incorporate nitrogen into the soil (Schwendener et al, 2007) and acts as a biological control agent for certain pests (Sivira et al, 2011). According to Cirne et al (2012), this species performs well when fed to feedlot sheep.…”