Neta Ernestina Ribeiro Dos Santos, Alves Kaliandra Souza, Mezzomo Rafael, Gomes Daiany Íris, Oliveira Luis Rennan Sampaio, Carvalho Francisco Fernando Ramos de, Luz Janaina Barros, Lacerda Natália Gomes, Bourdon Venucia de Diniella Dos Santos
Campus de Parauapebas, Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia, Parauapebas, Pará, Brazil.
Departmento de Zootecnia, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil.
Anim Sci J. 2017 Aug;88(8):1171-1177. doi: 10.1111/asj.12744. Epub 2016 Dec 27.
This study aimed to evaluate the behavior of sheep fed babassu cake as a substitution for elephant grass silage. The experiment was conducted at the Federal Rural University of Amazonia (Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia - UFRA), Brazil, using 45 sheep housed in individual stalls, with unlimited access to feed and distributed in a completely randomized design with five treatments (0, 12.5, 25, 37.5 and 50% inclusion of babassu cake) and nine replications. All of the treatments contained a roughage-to-concentrate ratio of 40:60. No differences were observed in the time spent feeding (P > 0.05), regardless of the source of roughage used. However, there was a reduction in the time spent in rumination (P < 0.05) and an increase in time spent idling (P < 0.05) when babassu cake was included in the diet. Although there was a reduction in the time spent chewing the ruminal bolus (P < 0.05), the total daily chewing time was the same for all animals (P > 0.05). However, the sheep fed babassu cake showed higher feeding and rumination efficiency (P < 0.05). Therefore, the substitution of elephant grass silage with babassu cake can be performed at up to 50% without compromising the total time spent eating and chewing, which allows increased feeding and rumination efficiency.
