Abstract
This study aimed to evaluate the nutrient metabolism and ingestive behavior of goats fed diets containing palm tree fruits. Twenty-one female goats fed three diets, one control and two with carnauba or tucum fruits, were assigned to a completely randomized design. There was a decrease in dry matter intake (DMI) from 0.183 and 0.223 kg/day for diets containing tucum and carnauba fruits, respectively, with higher intake of neutral detergent fiber (NDF) (0.41 kg/day) for diet containing carnauba fruit. The intake of digestible protein (78.04 gDP/day) and metabolizable energy (2.51 McalME/day) from the diet with tucum fruit met the nutritional requirements of the animals. The inclusion of tucum fruits resulted in lower intake, absorption and retention of nitrogen (19.20; 14.67 and 11.55 gN/day, respectively), with N balance (%Ningested) above 60%, in addition to the increase of 0.57 Mcal/kgDM of the digestible energy of the diets. As for the ingestive behavior, the diets containing fruits of carnauba demanded more time for rumination (453.65 min/day). The inclusion of tucum fruits in diets composed of corn, soybean and Tifton 85 hay meets the requirements of growing goats as regards to digestible protein and metabolizable energy. Diets containing carnauba fruit reduce the digestibility of dry matter due to the increase in the proportion of fiber and its low quality, which, together with the low feed efficiency, suggests the inclusion of carnauba fruit in a smaller proportion for growing animals or only in maintenance diets .
Highlights
Feeding costs are still an obstacle to several small ruminant farming systems, especially when concentrate diets are used in periods of forage deficit, which despite the good nutritional value, make the system more expensive
Its main economic use is by cutting the leaves for wax production, besides that fruits are used for animal feeding in extensive systems in the areas of occurrence of the plants, which should occur soon after ripening, due to the rapid decomposition of the pericarp after the fruit falls on the ground
The inclusion of fruit of the carnauba and tucum palm trees in the diets resulted in a reduction (P
Summary
Feeding costs are still an obstacle to several small ruminant farming systems, especially when concentrate diets are used in periods of forage deficit, which despite the good nutritional value, make the system more expensive. In this sense, it is sought to know better the alternative ingredients for diets, mainly due to the high production of some native plant species in the dry period. Among the native species to the Mid-North subregion, stand out carnauba Copernicia prunifera (Mill.) H.E. Moore) and tucum (Bactris setosa Mart.) palm trees, whose fruits are commonly consumed by herds of small ruminants in an area of natural occurrence of these palms, with empirical reports of good acceptance and contribution to maintaining the weight of the animals. Its main economic use is by cutting the leaves for wax production, besides that fruits are used for animal feeding in extensive systems in the areas of occurrence of the plants, which should occur soon after ripening, due to the rapid decomposition of the pericarp after the fruit falls on the ground
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