The effect of leucaena hay as a source of effective fibre and nutrients in diets with forage palm for finishing sheep in semi-arid regions

Abstract

The present study was conducted to evaluate the intake, digestibility and nitrogen balance of diets for finishing sheep, containing leucaena hay as a source of effective fibre and forage palm. Twenty-one male sheep were used in a randomized block design with three treatments, represented by total diets, where the forage was leucaena hay and forage palm in natura in proportions 350:650, 450:550 and 550:450 g/kg respectively. For the pH and NH3-N in the ruminal fluid, and urea in the blood serum, plots split in time were adopted. Dry matter and nutrient digestibility, and the nitrogen balance were not influenced (p >.05) by the diets. The neutral detergent fibre digestibility decreased (p