Spineless cactus associated with Tifton hay or sugarcane bagasse may replace corn silage in sheep diets

Abstract

The effect of the replacement of corn silage with spineless cactus associated with Tifton 85 hay or sugarcane bagasse was evaluated on the performance, body weight components and sheep meat quality. Twenty-one Santa Inês male sheep with initial body weight of 22.9 ± 2.9 kg were used. They were confined in individual stalls for 74 days receiving the following diets: corn silage + concentrate (CS); spineless cactus + Tifton 85 hay + concentrate (TH); spineless cactus + sugarcane bagasse + concentrate (SB). After the feedlot period, the animals were slaughtered and their body components were weighed and sampled. Data were submitted to Tukey's test at 5% probability. The average daily gain (0.25 vs 0.14 kg), cold carcass weight (13.3 vs 13.7 kg), loin muscularity (0.6 vs 0.4 kg) and liver weight (0.7 vs. 0.5 kg) were higher (P < 0.05) for the TH diet when compared to that for the CS. The physical-chemical parameters of meat were not influenced (P > 0.05) by the treatments and presented about 20.1% of crude protein, 6.1% of crude fat and shear force of 2.0 kgf/cm. In complete diets for sheep, Tifton 85 hay associated with spineless cactus provides greater weight gain, cold carcass muscularity and organ weight when compared to those for animals fed with corn silage as exclusive roughage. Sugarcane bagasse associated with spineless cactus may replace corn silage in complete diets for sheep.

Cactus cladodes associated with urea and sugarcane bagasse: an alternative to conserved feed in semi-arid regions

“…In a performance trial with finishing lambs fed cactus cladodes diets (35% of total DM) associated with MS, TH, or SB, no difference were observed in the DMI 1.1 kg/day and average daily gain 0.19 kg/day (Ribeiro et al 2017), which indicates that the roughages with cactus cladodes used in our experiment can be applicable to finishing lambs feeding. Thus, we have the technology package (bagasse+cactus+urea/AS) for a lower price than other options and known energetic value ready to formulate diets at different levels of nutrition requirement.…”

Dietary guanidine acetic acid addition improved carcass quality with less back-fat thickness and remarkably increased meat protein deposition in rapid-growing lambs fed different forage types

“…Previous studies [32,34] found that moisture, CP, ash, and EE were not affected by forage type. Similar results were found in this study.…”

“…The current trial resulted in a higher HCW for lambs on the OH diet compared to those on the OHWS diet. This was also evidenced by the increased carcass weight and decreased fat ratio following a spineless cactus diet associated with Tifton hay as a replacement for corn silage in sheep diets [32]. However, due to the limitations of the conditions, the untested fat ratio and lean meat rate were also shortcomings of this study, as these factors could only be indirectly re ected by backfat thickness and ribeye area.…”

Carcass characteristics and meat quality of lambs fed high levels of spineless cactus in the diet

“…The increase in the energy level in the diet could be responsible for the increase in the weights of the heart, liver, and kidneys of the lambs fed with spineless cactus. Ribeiro et al (2017) reported an increase in the weight of the heart, liver, and kidneys of lambs with the inclusion of spineless cactus in the diet. These organs are a priority in the metabolism of animals and grow according to the energy level of the diet.…”