Dwarf elephant grass hay (Pennisetum purpureum Schum. cv. Mott) digestion by sheep at different levels of intake

Ciência Rural

Lima, Lisiane Dorneles de¹  Reffatti, Mônica Vizzotto¹  Trevisan, Luiz Maurício¹  Kozloski, Gilberto Vilmar¹  Morais, Jucileia Aparecida da Silva¹  Sanchez, Luis Maria Bonnecarrère¹  Cadorin Júnior, Rui Luiz¹ 

[1] Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria, Brasil

关键词: digestibility;    nitrogen retention;    microbial protein synthesis;    tropical grass;    nutritional value;   

DOI  :  10.1590/S0103-84782007000200029

学科分类：农业科学（综合）

来源: Universidade Federal de Santa Maria * Centro de Ciencias Rurais

【 摘 要 】

Twelve one year old Texel x Corriedale castrated male sheep, with 27kg mean live weight (LW), housed in metabolic cages, were used in a completely randomized experiment, carried out in two periods, to evaluate the effect of level of intake (dry matter (DM) basis) of dwarf elephant grass (1.5; 1.75; 2.0; 2.25; 2.5% of LW and ad libitum) on digestion. DM, organic matter (OM) and nitrogen (N) apparent digestibility, as well as the N true digestibility, total digestible nutrients (TDN) contents and rumen microbial protein synthesis were not affected by level of hay intake. N retention (as g day-1 and as % of N intake) was always positive and increased linearly (P<0.05) as the level of hay intake increased. However, neutral (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) apparent digestibility, as well as OM true digestibility decreased linearly (P<0.05) with increasing intake. Passage rate and mean retention time in the cecum-colon were not affected, whereas passage rate through the reticulum-rumen increased and mean retention time decreased (P<0.05) as the level of intake increased. Fibre and OM true digestibility decreased as hay intake increased (P<0.05), mainly due to a decreasing in retention time of particles into the reticulo-rumen. However, OM apparent digestibility and, thus, the energetic value of dwarf elephant grass hay was not affected by the level of intake.

【 授权许可】

CC BY-NC