Abstract
Soybean hulls (SH) are an alternative fiber source that may be used to maintain neutral detergent fiber (NDF) concentration while increasing the energy concentration of ruminant diets. The objective of this experiment was to determine the effects of replacing coastcross (Cynodon sp.) hay NDF by SH NDF on the apparent digestibility of nutrients and nitrogen balance of Santa Inês ram lambs. Twenty-four animals (42.5 ± 3.6 kg of body weight and six months old) were placed in metabolism crates and assigned in a randomized complete block design defined by body weight (BW). Experimental diets provided a similar concentration of NDF (52%) and crude protein (15%). Hay NDF from a 70% roughage-based diet was replaced with SH NDF by 33%, 67%, and 100%, resulting in 0, 25, 52, and 77% of SH in the dietary dry matter (DM), respectively. There was a linear increase (p < 0.01) on dry matter and organic matter (OM) intakes expressed as kg day-1 and % of BW, with SH inclusion. The OM digestibility showed a quadratic effect (p < 0.05) with SH inclusion while crude protein digestibility showed a linear decrease (p < 0.0001). A quadratic effect was also observed for NDF (p < 0.05) and acid detergent fiber (p < 0.01) digestibilities. The N retentions, as % of N consumed and % of N absorbed, resulted in quadratic effects (p < 0.05) with SH addition. There was no effect (p > 0.05) on water intake when SH replaced hay. The SH can replace forage and may be included up to 77% in the dietary DM of ram lambs with satisfactory values of nutrient digestibilities.
Highlights
Soybean hulls may replace forage in ruminant diets due to their high fiber concentration, 60.3% of neutral detergent fiber (NDF), 44.6% of acid detergent fiber (ADF), and 2.5% lignin (NRC, 2001)
Twenty-four animals (42.5 ± 3.6 kg of body weight and six months old) were placed in metabolism crates and assigned in a randomized complete block design defined by body weight (BW)
The increases in dry matter intake (DMI) and organic matter intake (OMI) with Soybean hulls (SH) inclusion were due to the higher SH digestibility compared to coastcross hay, probably due to the lower in
Summary
Soybean hulls may replace forage in ruminant diets due to their high fiber concentration, 60.3% of neutral detergent fiber (NDF), 44.6% of acid detergent fiber (ADF), and 2.5% lignin (NRC, 2001). Santa Inês lambs have a lower growth potential than meat type wool lambs (Figueiredo et al, 1990), presenting average daily gains of 227 g d–1 (Rocha et al, 2004) and 277 g d–1 (Urano et al, 2006) when receiving high-grain diets. For this reason, even high inclusions of SH may be adequate for the growth of Santa Inês lambs. An improvement in DM digestibility is expected with SH inclusion but a minimum amount of long particle forage is supposed to be necessary to maximize rumen degradation In this particular experiment, coastcross hay was used as a reference roughage type. Utilizing SH as a roughage replacer, the objective of this experiment was to determine the combination of SH and hay that maximizes apparent digestibilities of nutrients, and evaluate the effects of replacing coastcross hay NDF by SH NDF on nutrient and water intakes, and on N balance of Santa Inês ram lambs
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