Efeito do Lithothamnium calcareum sobre a digestibilidade in vitro de dietas para cabras leiteiras.

Abstract

Effect of the Lithothamnium calcareum on the in vitro digestibility of diets for dairy goats. Considering the importance of calcium for animal nutrition and the negative environmental impacts generated by the extraction of limestone, which is currently the main source of calcium for animal and vegetable feed, it is necessary to search for alternative sources that are capable of Cease or minimize such environmental damage. The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of the inclusion of Lithothamnium calcareum, as an alternative source of calcium, in the in vitro digestibility of dry matter (DM), neutral detergent insoluble fiber (NDF) and crude protein Diets for lactating dairy goats. For the in vitro digestibility assay, ruminal liquid from two fistulated goats was used. The in vitro digestibility of DM, NDF and CP of the diet was evaluated considering the following treatments, reference: 0% L. calcareum, and four increasing levels of L. calcareum, T1 = 0.18%; T2 = 0.55%; T3 = 0.92% and T4 = 1.29% added to the diet. The influence of L. calcareum (P <0.05) on the in vitro digestibility of DM and NDF in the evaluated diets was observed. In the regression analysis, an increasing linear effect was observed (p <0.05), with the following in vitro digestibility results: reference = 63,237; 0.18% L. calcareum = 64.670; 0.55% = 65.110; 0.92% = 65.938 and 1.29% = 66.278%. By demonstrating that the higher the level of L. calcareum in the diet, the higher the in vitro digestibility of DM and NDF. The addition of L. calcareum increases the digestibility of DM and NDF of diets for lactating dairy goats, without altering the digestibility of CP.