Babassu mesocarp flour in diet of finishing lambs

摘要

Twenty crossbred lambs (21.6 ± 3.5 kg BW) were used in a completely randomised design todetermine the effects of babassu mesocarp flour (BMF) on performance and ingestive behaviour.The treatments were defined by the increase in concentrations (0, 10, 20 or 30%, in DM basis)of BMF in the diet. When significant treatments effects were found, orthogonal polynomials fortreatment responses were determined by linear and quadratic responses (p .05). To determinethe in situ ruminal degradability of the diets used in performance trial, one rumen-fistulatedSanta In^es male sheep (63 kg BW) was used in a completely randomised design in a split splotarrangement with three replications (three periods of incubation) in times 3, 6, 24 and 72 h.Data from potential degradability (PD), dry matter (DM) and crude protein (CP) degradability fordiets and the incubation time were compared by t-test (p .05). Negative quadratic effect wasobserved upon nutrients intake, except for neutral detergent fiber (NDF) intake. The averagedaily gain, body condition score, feeding efficiency of DM and time spent in feeding decreasedlinearly with BMF addition. The BMF decreased the soluble fraction (a) potentially degradablefraction (b) PD, effective degradability of DM and CP and the NDF degradability. The addition ofBMF in diets of sheep had negative effects on performance, feed efficiency of DM and degradability of DM, CP and NDF. However, the BMF can be used in diets, during the conventionalgrains off-season, at concentration up to 10.5% as alternative feed.