Abstract
The objective of this work was to evaluate, in bovines, the intake and apparent digestibility of nutrients, ingestive behaviour and content of total digestible nutrients (TDN) of diets based on sugar cane treated with calcium hydroxide. It was used four cows with average body weight of 412.06 kg ± 37.3 kg. The study included inclusion of calcium hydroxide at the doses 0, 8, 16 and 24 g/kg of sugar cane in natural matter basis fed in diets with 65% of roughage and 35% on concentrate, based on dry matter (DM). It was used a 4 × 4 Latin square experimental design with four treatments and four periods. Calcium hydroxide doses affected nutrient intake: DM intake was 7.88 kg/day at the dose of 14.99 g of calcium hydroxide, organic matter (OM) intake was 6.75 kg/day at 10.94 g; intake of neutral detergent fiber (NDF) of 3.33 kg/day with a dose of 13.93 g; and intake of acid detergent fiber (ADF) of 2.12 kg/day with a dose of 10.51 g. Digestibility coefficients showed a quadratic effect for doses of inclusion of calcium hydroxide. Dry matter digestibility was 72.88% with a dose of 11.65 g of calcium hydroxide, OM digestibility was 75.12% with 12.09 g; NDF digestibility was 58.67% with 12.11 g; ADF digestibility was 52.97% with 9.36 g and TDN digestibility was 71.42% with 10.92 g. There was no effect of the treatment for activities of rumination and total idle. Chewing time, number of bolus chewed and time for rumination of each bolli presented effect. Calcium hydroxide enabled greater intakes and digestibility of nutrients, especially from the cell wall, favoring the use of nutrients from the diet containing sugar cane, recommending a dose of 8-12 g.
Highlights
Sugar cane is a source of roughage in animal feeding
It was observed that after mixing, doses of calcium hydroxide with fresh sugar cane, the color changed to a yellowish appearance and the odor of the treated sugar cane was altered after being mixed with the alkali agent
A reduction of infestation of bees in feeds treated with calcium hydroxide was noted
Summary
Sugar cane is a source of roughage in animal feeding. It presents high production per unit of cultivated area, relatively easy cultivation and low cost of production per hectare, better quality and a high DM yield in periods when forage is scarce.Poor quality roughage is an important source of nutrients which is utilized in ruminant feeding, mainly in under developed countries. Sugar cane is a source of roughage in animal feeding. It presents high production per unit of cultivated area, relatively easy cultivation and low cost of production per hectare, better quality and a high DM yield in periods when forage is scarce. Poor quality roughage is an important source of nutrients which is utilized in ruminant feeding, mainly in under developed countries. The digestibility and intake are the two principal components which determine the feed nutritional value. When high quality diets are provided, the intake of the animal is determined by the energy demand (Ítavo et al, 2002). When low-quality diets are provided, the animals intake is at a level that corresponds to the capacity to fill the gastrintestinal tract
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