Silage or fresh by-product of peach palm as roughage in the feeding of lambs

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate intake and apparent digestibility of agro-industrial by-product of peach palm in diets for lambs. Twenty castrated, crossbred Santa Ines lambs, with average age of 150 days and body weight of 22.4 ± 3.4 kg, were distributed in a completely randomized design with four experimental diets composed of the following: fresh by-product of peach palm enriched with urea + ammonia sulfate (FU); fresh peach palm by-product + concentrate (FP); silage of peach palm by-product + concentrate (SP); and silage of peach palm by-product enriched with 15% of cornmeal + concentrate (SPC). Intake was recorded daily, and the digestibility coefficients were estimated with the internal marker indigestible acid detergent fiber (iADF). Diet FU resulted in the lowest intake and digestibility of the nutrients evaluated. Animals receiving diet FP showed higher intakes of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), total digestible nutrients (TDN), and digestible energy (DE) in relation to animals fed diets SP and SPC. Diets SP and SPC showed higher coefficients of digestibility of DM, OM, CP, and NDF than diet FP. Diet SP reduced the intakes of DM, OM, ether extract (EE), non-fibrous carbohydrate (NFC), TDN, and DE and the digestibility coefficients of DM, OM, and NFC as compared with diet SPC. Feedlot lambs fed a diet with fresh peach palm by-product + concentrate (diet FP) have higher nutrient intake.

Silage of the agro-industrial co-product of babassu palm heart processing in sheep feed

“…CABRAL et al (2015) evaluated ICPP + maize (15%) silages and obtained a CP coefficient proportional to 78.2%, while for RODRIGUES NETO et al (2001) it was equivalent to 71% for a ICPP + maize (10%) diet, higher than recorded in this experiment. The significant digestibility of CP in the CS diet is due to the additive, which is rich in non-structural total carbohydrates, having a protective effect on the protein since starch prevents degradation of proteins before they are used by ruminal microorganisms (CABRAL et al, 2015).…”

“…Nevertheless, the NDF intake in SC silages was higher than recorded by RABELO et al (2013), at 0.226 kg.day −1 . Thus, ICBP silages enriched with energy additives enhanced the fermentation process and reduce undesirable fermentation (CABRAL et al, 2015), resulting in improved digestibility of the BM, BR, CS, and CC diets.…”

“…Additives used must have a satisfactory dry matter and nutritional content, preferably obtained with the minimum financial investment (COUTO FILHO et al, 2007). Some solid ingredients such as cassava scrapings, coffee husk, broken maize, and rice can be incorporated into silage to fulfil some of the requirements listed above (PIRES et al, 2009;OLIVEIRA et al, 2010;CABRAL et al, 2015).…”

“…However, information on silage of the babassu palm (Attalea speciosa) co-product in ruminant feed is still scarce (CABRAL et al, 2015). Accordingly, this study aimed to evaluate silages of babassu palm inner bark combined with different solid ingredients, as well as sugar cane silage, in the feeding of sheep.…”

Intake and digestion of non-traditional feedstuffs by farmed collared peccary (Mammalia, Tayassuidae)

“…Agroindustrial byproducts cause environmental pollution if not used as animal feeds. The industrial production of the heart of peach palm (Bactris gasipaes) provides 40 tons per day of byproduct at a single processing plant (Cabral et al, 2015), while the palm oil industry yields 40 kg per ha of palm kernel cake (PKC) (Devendra, 2006). Peach palm byproducts and PKC are mainly used in ruminant diets, owing to their high fiber content (Wan Zahari and Alimon, 2005;Cabral et al, 2015).…”