Luis Evandro de Lima

Palma Forrageira (Opuntia ficus indica Mill) em Substituição à Silagem de Sorgo (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) na Alimentação de Vacas Leiteiras

The experiment was conducted to evaluate the performance of lactating Holstein cows fed diet with different replacement levels (0, 12, 24 and 36%) of forage cactus (Opuntia ficus indica Mill) for sorghum silage (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench). Eight cows were assigned to a two 4x4 latin square design. Each experimental period lasted 21 days, 14 days for adaptation and 7 days for data collection. The intakes of dry matter (DM) in kg/day, % of live weight (LW) and g/kg 0,75 , organic matter and total carbohydrates in kg/day, were not affected by the forage cactus levels (20.18, 3.41, 167.80, 18.86, and 14.85, respectively). The nonfiber carbohydrates (kg/day) intake increased and the intakes of neutral detergent fiber (kg/day and % of LW), acid detergent fiber, crude protein and ether extract (kg/day) linearly decreased as the forage cactus levels increased. The sodium intake was not affected by the inclusion of forage cactus, with average value of 29.45g/day. The potassium and magnesium intake increased and phosphorus intake linearly decreased. The milk production and fat corrected milk was not affected by the forage cactus levels (25.01 and 26.97 kg/day, respectively). There was a quadratic effect of levels of forage cactus on the milk fat concentration, with maximum milk fat of 4.08% with 20.51% of forage cactus. Feed:milk production ratio linearly decreased as the forage cactus levels increased.