Substituição do milho moído por gérmen integral de milho extra gordo em dietas para ovino

Abstract

The objective was to evaluate the effects of the inclusion of whole wheat germ in extra fat to replace ground corn in the sheep diet. Five crossbred mixed breed (SRD) sheep, castrated, fistulated and cannulated in the rumen, with initial mean body weight (BW) of 67.56 ± 9.13 kg were used, distributed in a 5x5 Latin Square experimental design. The roughage used were corn silage and forage palm, small cultivar and the treatments consisted of five replacement levels of ground corn with extra fat whole corn germ (0; 25; 50; 75; and 100%) in the concentrate. Consumption of MS, in kg / day and g / kg of CP, and that of MO, PB, NDT, FDNcp and CNFcp, expressed in kg / day, were not influenced by the replacement of ground corn with whole germ of extra fat corn. EE consumption increased linearly (P <0.05), as there was an increase in corn germ in the diet. With the replacement of ground corn with extra fat whole corn germ, there was no effect on the apparent digestibility coefficients of MS, MO, FDNcp. While the apparent digestibility coefficient of ether extract was linear, due to the dilution effect that diets with high EE content present. There was also a significantly increasing effect on the apparent digestibility of PB, since there was a smaller amount of PB excreted in the faeces. There was no significant effect on the time spent on food, rumination and leisure. The ruminal pH was not influenced by the replacement of ground corn with extra fat whole corn germ. Above all, it showed quadratic behavior throughout the collection hours. There was no effect of substitution on ammoniacal nitrogen (NAR) concentrations; however, decreasing linear behavior was observed due to the collection times and interaction of the replacement levels and the collection time. Quadratic behavior was also observed for acetate, and a decreasing linear effect for butyrate. The acetate and propionate concentrations, the total AGV and the acetate: propionate ratio showed quadratic behavior, depending on the collection times. In view of the results, it is recommended to partially replace ground corn with extra fat whole corn germ in the sheep diet.