INFLUÊNCIA DE NÍVEIS CRESCENTES DE RESÍDUO DE BARU NO COMPORTAMENTO DE OVINOS NO NORDESTE GOIANO

Abstract

Sheep farming has gained prominence in Brazil, due to the use of new feeding strategies that aim to improve animal performance. Supplementation with concentrates is a common practice to increase feed efficiency and weight gain in sheep, being It is important to investigate the effects of different nutrient sources. Among these sources, bran of baru, a by-product of great nutritional value, has aroused interest as sustainable alternative for animal feed. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the ingestive behavior of Santa Inês sheep supplemented with different types of concentrated feed, using a roughage/concentrate ratio of 60:40% in dry matter. Five animals were used, with an average initial weight of 34 kg and age of 6 months, arranged in a Latin square design with five treatments and five repetitions. The roughage used was hay from Brachiaria brizantha cv. Marandu, and the concentrates were: control diet (mineral), 0%, 10%, 20% and 30% baru bran. All diets contained between 68.9% and 77.5% total digestible nutrients (TDN) and 30% crude protein (CP). Hay was supplied at the rate of 2% of the animals' body weight, in two daily meals (08:00 and 17:00), while the concentrate was offered in a quantity fixed at 400 g per animal/day, at 10 am. The sheep underwent 14 days of adaptation to the metabolic cages, followed by 15 days of adaptation to the diets and another 6 days for collecting data. Ingestive behavior was recorded in 5 sessions of 48 hours, with intervals of 21 days, totaling 240 hours of observation. The data was analyzed using variance and Tukey test. The inclusion of baru bran in the diet did not impact the digestibility of animals (P>0.05) nor the time spent consuming roughage and idleness (P>0.05). However, there was significant variation (P<0.05) in total rumination time and water intake. Therefore, it is recommended to use the baru by-product in feeding Santa Inês sheep, as long as its application is adjusted to the specific conditions of each producer.