Abstract

JIMENEZ, Gastón Castaño  and  RIOS, Mateo Loaiza. OPC sheep feed with Pennisetum purpureum silage and supplemented with cassava bran. rev. colombiana cienc. anim. Recia [online]. 2023, vol.15, n.2, e06.  Epub Feb 22, 2024. ISSN 2027-4297.  https://doi.org/10.24188/recia.v15.n2.2023.990.

The use of agro-industrial by-products with a high starch content, such as cassava bran, is an alternative to improve the quality of the diet in sheep. The aim of this work was to determine consumption, digestibility of nutrients and ingestion behavior of Colombian woolless sheep that consume Pennisetum purpureum silage and different levels of cassava bran. The experiment lasted 112 d, divided into four periods of 28 d. The treatments consisted of four levels of cassava bran supplied to sheep that consumed P. purpureum silage: a control where silage was supplied ad libitum, and another three that were additionally offered 100, 200 or 300 g d-1 of cassava bran. Four Colombian Creole Hair ewes were assigned to the treatments according to a 4x4x4 latin square experimental design. Cassava bran affected the intake of dry matter, lignin, non-fibrous carbohydrates, and organic matter (p<0.01); in addition, the digestibility of organic matter (p=0.0443). There was no effect of the inclusion of cassava bran on eating behavior, blood glucose and live weight (p>0.05). These results suggest that the addition of cassava bran up to 300 g d-1 is a feeding alternative for sheep, since it increases the nutrient intake, without affecting the digestibility of the diet or the consumption behavior.

Keywords : Agroindustrial byproducts; digestibility; elephant grass; feeding behavior; nutrient intake; ruminant feeding (CABI Thesaurus).

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )