Producción, digestibilidad y rentabilidad en corderos de dietas con vainas de acacia farnesiana

Abstract

Aiming to evaluate the use of Acacia farnesiana pods in sheep feeding, an experiment was carried out with growing lambs receiving isoproteinic diets (T) with different inclusion levels of pods: T1= 0, T2= 100, T3= 200, T4= 300 and T5= 400 g/kg (dry basis) prepared with maize fodder, soybean meal, wheat bran and minerals mix; productive performance, digestibility and cost-benefit analysis were assessed. Fifty lambs of the Chiapas breed were utilized, kept in closed confinement under a controlled feeding regime, using a completely at random design with five treatments and five repetitions. The crude protein content (CP) of pods was 115.2 g/kg (DM) and tannins were 7.8 g/kg. Voluntary intake was higher (p<0.05) in T4 as compared with the control group; feed conversion and average daily gain were similar (p>0.05) among treatments. Wool production showed no per unit area (mg/cm2/day) was higher (p<0.05) with the inclusion of 200 g/kg of pods in the diet. Dry matter and fiber digestibility showed no differences (p<0.05) among treatments, while the cost-benefit ratio was better for T4. It is concluded that the inclusion up to 400 g/kg of Acacia farnesiana pods in the diet of growing lambs did not have an effect on their productive response or the digestibility, whereas 200 g/kg improved voluntary intake and wool growth, and thus its use may be recommended to lower food costs.