690 Effects of supplementation of lambs' diets with babassu oil or buriti oil on nutrient digestibility and growth performance

Abstract

Babassu (Orbignya phalerata Mart.) and Buriti (Mauritia flexuosa Mart.) are palm trees abundant in the northeast and north of Brazil, in the transition between Amazon rain forest and Cerrado biomes. The oil extracted from their fruits is locally available and therefore can be an alternative lipid source to increase energy density of growing lambs' diets. Twenty-one lambs (18.9 ± 3.8 kg initial BW and 120 d old) were used in a complete randomized block design to determine the effects of adding babassu oil or buriti oil on apparent digestibility and growth performance. Lambs were individually penned during 50 d and fed 1 of 3 diets: a control diet containing 70% concentrate and 30% Tifton 85 hay (CONT), the CONT plus 40 g/kg of babassu oil (BAO), and the CONT plus 40 g/kg of buriti oil (BUO). At the end of performance monitoring period, the intake was recorded and total feces collected for 4 d. Data were analyzed by 1-way ANOVA and when a significant diet effect (P < 0.05) was found, means were compared using Tukey's method. No significant differences were detected for DM (840 ± 176 g/d), CP (155 ± 38 g/d), NDF (290 ± 74 g/d), and ME (2.3 ± 0.5 Mcal/d) intake. Also, no significant differences were observed for DM (74.74 ± 5.0%), CP (75.9 ± 6.3%), and NDF (60.2 ± 7.8%) digestibility. The ether extract (EE) intake was higher (P < 0.05) with BUO (60.5 g/d) than with BAO (47.8 g/d) and both BUO and BAO were higher (P < 0.05) than CONT (23.3 g/d). However, the apparent digestibility of EE was higher (P < 0.05) with BAO (79.5%) than with BUO (68.7%) and both BAO and BUO were higher (P < 0.05) than CONT (55.4%).The ADG did not differ (P > 0.05) and averaged 187 ± 51 g/d across treatments. Moreover, the G:F did not differ (P > 0.05) and averaged 0.22 ± 0.09 across treatments. In conclusion, the addition of babassu oil or buriti oil did not affect the growth performance or nutrient apparent digestibility, except for EE.