Consumo de água e comportamento ingestivo de caprinos e ovinos submetidos a dietas a base de silagens de mucilagem de sisal, aditivadas ou não

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the ingestive behavior and the water consumption of goats and sheep fed sisal mucilage silages (MUC), whether or not added or not. Four goats and four sheep, with no defined breed pattern, were employed, with permanent fistula in the rumen. The animals were kept in individual stalls and distributed in a 4x4 Latin square experimental design, in subdivided plot scheme so that the effect of the animal species was allocated in the plot and the treatments in the subplots. To study ingestive behavior, the animals were observed every ten minutes for 24h. The estimated water consumption was determined by the weight difference of the buckets before and after ingestion, taking into account the amount evaporated. There was no interaction (P> 0.05) between the treatments and the animal species for any of the studied variables. However, sheep presented higher (P <0.05) dry matter (DM) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) consumption in relation to goats. Even dry matter intake (CMS) showed differences among species, feeding, rumination and leisure times did not present differences. However, when comparing caprine and ovine species, it was found that feed and rumination efficiency of both DM and NDF was higher for the ovine species. The highest intake of NDF for animals fed hay in the diet, regardless of the species, was higher than those that received the silage, especially for those fed with corn or wheat. This reflected lower (P <0.05) rumination time and higher (P <0.05) leisure time for the animals submitted to the diets containing the MUC silages. Considering the animal species effect, it was recorded that for goats the higher the NDF levels in the diet the greater the time spent with rumination, but with lower (P <0.05) rumination efficiency, the inverse behavior was recorded for sheep. There was interaction (P <0.05) between the effects of the treatments and the animal species for ingestion of water via food, via drinking fountain and for total water consumption. Sheep fed wheat MUC silage recorded higher total water consumption (P <0.05) than goats. The use of sisal mucilage silages, whether or not added, improves rumination efficiency and leads to increased voluntary water consumption by animals.