Nutritive Value of Fresh Swine Excreta for Growing Pelibuey Sheep

Abstract

GCantón, J.J., Belmar-Casso, R. and Sandoval-Castro, C.A. 2005. Nutritive value of fresh swine excreta for growing pelibuey sheep. J. Appl. Anim. Res., 27: 89–94. To study the utilization of fresh swine excreta (FSE) in growing Pelibuey sheep two experiments were carried out. In the first experiment, twelve male sheep (20±1.7 kg) were allocated in a randomized block design to four diets containing 0 (D0), 200 (D20), 400 (D40) and 600 (D60) g FSE/kg dry matter (DM). Water and DM intake as well as the digestibility of DM, organic matter (OMD), crude fibre and gross energy (GE) were higher (P<0.05) for the DO diet, although OMD was similar (P>0.05) for DO and D60 diets. N balance was similar (P>0.05) for DO, D20 and D60 diets. In the second experiment, rumen fermentation pattern and 48h in situ rumen DM degradation of Cynodon nlemfluensis were studied in four Pelibuey sheep fed similar diets as in experiment 1 in a 4 × 4 Latin square design. Plasma urea and NH3 were higher (P<0.05) in DO diet, although NH 3 was not different from D60 diet (P>0.05). Total VFA and its molar proportion were similar for all diets. Rumen pH was lower (P<0.05) for the D60 diet. No effect was found on DM degradation, rumen outflow and rumen turnover rates. It was concluded that FSE is a valuable source of nitrogen for sheep and it can be fed up to levels of 600 g/kg DM.