Luciana Felizardo Pereira Soares

Assessment of indicators and collection methodology to estimate nutrient digestibility in buffaloes

Dry fecal matter production was estimated from neutral detergent indicators on indigestible fiber, indigestible acid detergent fiber, indigestible dry matter, incubated for 144 hours and 288 hours, as well as chromium oxide (Cr2O3) and enriched and purified isolated lignin (LIPE®) in two sampling schemes (3 and 5 days) on buffaloes. Sample consisted of five castrated animals with average weight of 300 ± 0.6 kg fed on elephant grass cv Cameroon (Pennisetum purpureum). Experimental design consisted of randomized blocks in subdivided plots. Production of dry fecal matter was overestimated when using Cr2O3, indigestible acid detergent fiber 144 hours, indigestible neutral detergent fiber 144 hours, indigestible neutral detergent fiber 288 hours and indigestible dry matter 144 hours, while indigestible acid detergent fiber 288 hours, indigestible dry matter 288 hours and LIPE® did not differ from total collection. The same result was observed for apparent digestibility of nutrients. There was no difference in dry fecal matter production and digestibility between both collection periods of 3 and 5 days, demonstrating that a collection period of three days can be used to estimate dry fecal matter production in buffaloes. A three-day period of sample collection, in order to estimate dry fecal matter production and apparent digestibility coefficients, is therefore recommended. The use of LIPE®, fibers in indigestible acid detergent and indigestible dry matter as indicators, both latter incubated for 288 hours, result in accurate estimates of dry fecal matter production in confined buffaloes, fed on a forage based diet.

Levels of feed supplementation on the qualitative aspects of meat from crossbred goats finished on caatinga

The effect was evaluated of feed supplementation (0.0, 0.4, 0.8, and 1.2% of body weight) on the qualitative aspects of goat meat (moisture, ash, fat, protein, colouring using the CIE (L*, a* and b *) system, pH, cooking loss and shear force), and also on the sensory attributes of goat aroma, off-aroma, colour, texture, tenderness, flavour, off-flavour, juiciness and overall appearance. A total of 32 crossbred Anglo-Nubian goats were used, organised into randomised blocks and finished on a pasture of caatinga. There was a quadratic effect (p 0.05) by feed supplementation, except for colour and general appearance. Feed supplementation at 0.8% of body weight provides an increase in ash, fat and protein levels associated with qualitative improvements in cooking loss, tenderness and colouring, with increases in the sensory attributes of colour and overall appearance.

Bagaço de cana-de-açúcar como volumoso exclusivo em dietas para ovinos

Objetivou-se avaliar o efeito de diferentes proporcoes de concentrado e bagaco de cana-de-acucar como volumoso exclusivo em dietas para ovinos. Os consumos de materia seca, materia orgânica, proteina bruta, carboidratos nao fibrosos e nutrientes digestiveis totais expressos em kg/dia, aumentaram linearmente com o aumento da proporcao de concentrado na dieta. O mesmo comportamento foi observado para a digestibilidade da materia seca. O que ocorreu de forma contraria para a digestibilidade da fibra em detergente neutro, que diminuiu com os maiores niveis de concentrado. Com o aumento das proporcoes de concentrado nas dietas experimentais, foi observado efeito quadratico no tempo despendido com ruminacao, alimentacao e ocio, e nas concentracoes de acido acetico, propionico e butirico no rumen. Maiores proporcoes de concentrado associado ao bagaco de cana-de-acucar in naturapodem ser utilizadas em dietas para ovinos.