VALOR NUTRITIVO E CONSUMO VOLUNTÁRIO DO FENO DE FAVELEIRA FORNECIDO A OVINOS NO SEMIÁRIDO PERNAMBUCANO

Abstract

The shortage of animal feed during the dry season has led to the development of food handling techniques that are efficient and sustainable for farmers and ranchers. The research aimed to evaluate the chemical composition, voluntary intake and digestibility of faveleira (Cnidoscolus phyllacanthus (Muell. Arg.) Pax et K. Hoffman), to supply the sheep provided as in the form of hay. Five castrated 18 months old sheeps with a mean age of 18 months old with and initial average weight of 31.75 kg ± 1.08 were evaluated, using the conventional method of total collection of feces. The hay was made naturally in sunny area, the forage being harvested in areas of caatinga at the IPA¿s Sertânia Experimental Station belonging to the Agronomic Institute of Pernambuco/IPA. The faveleira hay results of chemical analysis percentages were: 92.95 dry matter (DM); 89.28 organic matter (OM); 13.48 crude protein (CP); 3.52 ether extract (EE); 41.42 does not extract nitrogen (NEN); 41.92 neutral detergent fiber (NDF); 26.71 acid detergent fiber (ADF) and 30.36 non-fiber carbohydrates (NFC). The voluntary intake of DM, CP, TDN, NDF, ADF and NFC, expressed in g kg-1 PV0, 75 were (93.14, 12.52, 56.06, 39.04; 24.88 and 28.28), respectively. The digestibility percentages were: 63.66 (MS); 66.06 (MO); 74.52 (PB); 36.44 (EE); 74.32 (ENN); 57.32 (NDF); 54.77 (FDA) and 56.91 (NFC). These results show that the faveleira hay could be a viable alternative to dietary supplementation of sheep during the dry season to semiarid of Brazil.