1. Intake, performance, and carcass characteristics of lambs fed spineless cactus replacing wheat bran.
- Author
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Felix SC, Pessoa RA, Ferreira Mde A, Soares LF, Silva Jde L, de Abreu KS, and de Melo AC
- Subjects
- Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena, Animals, Animals, Newborn growth & development, Body Composition, Body Weight, Digestion, Feeding Behavior, Male, Animal Feed analysis, Cactaceae, Diet veterinary, Sheep growth & development
- Abstract
To assess the intake, digestibility of nutrients, ingestive behavior, performance, and carcass characteristics of feedlot lambs, 36 F1 Santa Ines × Dorper male lambs with an initial average weight of 19.5 ± 0.27 kg were fed with different levels of spineless cactus (0, 33, 66, and 100 %) as a replacement of the wheat bran. The replacement diets had no effect on the intake of dry matter (DM) or crude protein (CP), whose average values were 962 and 140 g/day, respectively. There was a quadratic effect on the intake of digestible organic matter (OM) and the digestibility of DM, CP, neutral detergent fiber (NDF), and non-fiber carbohydrates (NFC). The highest average daily gain (ADG) of 168 g/day was achieved at 58.7 % replacement level. The highest hot and cold carcass weights of 15.4 and 14.5 kg were achieved at 62.4 and 56.9 % replacement levels. For lambs in the feedlot, we recommend replacing wheat bran with up to 58.7 % spineless cactus.
- Published
- 2016
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