Abstract:
This study was conducted to evaluate different levels of cactus (Nopalea cochenillifera) in the diet of sheep on the digestibility of nutrients, the performance by the average daily weight gain (DWG), feed consumptions, feed conversion ( FC) and ingestive behavior of animals. We used 32 Santa Inês lambs, 16 males, not castrated, and 16 females, with approximately four months old, and average initial weight of 20.5 kg ± 2.8 kg. The animals were housed in individual wooden cages of 1.20 mx 1.00 m for the test performance and ingestive behavior, and in individual metabolic cages of size 1.0 mx 0.6 m for the digestibility trial, all provided of individual feeders and drinkers. In trials tested the effects of four different levels of relations of inclusion of cactus pear (15, 30, 45 and 60%) of the forage diets, dry matter basis.The diets were composed of 75% of ingredients forage (hay and forage cactus-Mombasa) and 25% concentrate (corn, soybean meal, urea and mineral salt), diets were adjusted to estimate lambs gain weight 200 g / day per animal. Lambs fed diets containing different levels of inclusion of cactus girl showed no significant differences (P> 0.05) for dry matter intake (DMI) and average daily weight gain (DWG) as a function of the diets. The increasing levels of palm increased the digestibility of dry matter, crude protein, total carbohydrates, neutral detergent fiber, gross energy and metabolizable energy. It was observed that in ingestive behavior, diets with 15 to 60% inclusion of cactus girl showed significant results (P <0.05) for total time ruminating and idle, decreasing linearly Y = 590,00 – 3,553. X digestion and an increase linearly Y = 520 + 4,206. X in idle time of the animals. It is concluded that the addition of cactus in replacement of grass hay Mombasa to the 60% level had no significant effect on animal performance, improving the digestibility of various dietary components, such as caused reduction in time rumination and increased leisure time, pointing to a viable option in finishing feedlot sheep.
