Abstract
Simple SummarySmall ruminants fed on cactus pear exclusively in the diet may present nutritional disorders, especially diarrhea. This is due to the high moisture requirements present in this food, related to microbiological factors inherent to poor hygienic quality, such as handling and prolonged exposure of crushed palm to the air, which can cause greater ingestion by animals of certain bacterial groups with pathogenic potential. The aim of this research was to investigate the levels of cactus associated with buffel grass hay on the microbiological quality of diets and the influence on physiological parameters in sheep. Thus, this research revealed that the participation of buffel grass hay was able to reduce the contamination of bacteria that cause diarrhea and depress animal performance.This study aimed to evaluate the microbiological composition of cactus pear-based diets with increasing levels of buffel grass hay, and its effect on the blood and physiological parameters and occurrence of diarrhea in feedlot sheep. Four diets containing different percentages of buffel grass hay were tested. Diets were composed of forage cactus, buffel grass hay and concentrate, and the treatments were represented by different levels of hay in the dry matter of the feed: 7.5% buffel grass hay; 15% buffel grass hay; 30% buffel grass hay; and 45% buffel grass hay on a dry matter basis. There was a significant effect (p = 0.0034) of inclusion levels of buffel grass hay on fecal score. Only at the 45% inclusion level diarrhea was not observed, showing that the level of buffel grass affected more the animals than the collection period, although the collection period has affected the microbial counts. Probably there was a physiological adaptation of animals over time. There were significant changes (p < 0.0001) in the blood parameters of sheep. The reduction of the proportion of cactus and the inclusion of greater than 15% buffel grass hay, on a dry matter basis, provides less contamination of the diet and animal feces by enterobacteria, such as E. coli.
Highlights
This study aimed to evaluate the microbiological composition of cactus pear-based diets with increasing levels of buffel grass hay, and its effect on the blood and physiological parameters and occurrence of diarrhea in feedlot sheep
An effect of interaction of collection period and buffel grass hay levels was detected on the counts of Enterobacteriaceae (p < 0.0001) and E. coli (p = 0.0043) (Table 3)
Both on the 1st and 21st day, there was a cubic effect of the levels of buffel grass hay on the count of Enterobacteriaceae in the leftovers (Figure 1)
Summary
One way to circumvent this limitation is to provide concentrate feed for animals, and/or use forage plants adapted to climatic and soil conditions, such as cactus pear [1,2] In this sense, the cactus pear is a plant with high adaptability and resistance to weather and that is present in several semiarid regions of the world. The exclusive use of cactus pear in animal diets, can cause nutritional disorders to animals, such as diarrhea, foamy bloat and ruminal acidosis [3]. Several authors relate these nutritional disorders to low levels of physically effective neutral detergent fiber (NDFpe) in cactus pear [4,5]. The appearance of nutritional disorders in ruminants fed high levels of cactus pear is related to microbiological factors regarding poor hygienic quality, such as handling and exposure of crushed cactus pear to air for a long time, which can provide a greater intake by animals of certain bacterial groups with pathogenic potential, for example, the order Enterobacteriales, responsible for diarrhea [4]
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