DESENVOLVIMENTO DO FÊMUR DE CORDEIROS ALIMENTADOS COM SILAGEM DE MILHO OU CANA-DE-AÇÚCAR.

The bone development in lambs is extremely important, as this will reflect in the performance of the animals when they are adults. Bone problems in sheep affect the productivity of animals, increasing mortality rates and infection. Therefore, the evaluation of lambs skeletal development should be taken into account when they are fed different types and concentrations of bulk. There are no studies in the literature that demonstrate this relationship. Twenty Ile de France male lambs were used. They were uncastrated and weaned at 15 kg body weight then distributed in four treatments, with five animals per treatment. The treatments consisted of roughage: concentrate 60:40 (corn silage:concentrate); 60:40 ( sugar cane: concentrate); 40:60 (corn silage: concentrate); 40:60 ( sugar cane:concentrate). For morphometric evaluation, weighing of the femurs was performed and the length the perimeter of the proximal and distal epiphysis and the diaphysis of femurs and bone mineral density of the respective treatments were evaluated. No significant differences in the morphometric and densitometric evaluation was found between different treatments, with the exception of diaphysis bone mineral density, which was significantly (p <0.05) higher in the treatment with 40% corn silage in relation to the treatment 60% sugar cane. The use of diets containing of corn silage and sugarcane associated with addition of concentrate maintained the anatomical features. However, the proportion of 40% corn silage and 60% concentrate, showed better diaphysis bone mineral density due to a higher intake of nutrients and minerals present in this diet and consequently a higher energy intake, as well as an increased supply of dietary calcium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]