Effect of sorghum tannins in sheep fed with high-concentrate diets

• Autor(a) principal: Cabral Filho,S.L.S.
• Data de Publicação: 2013
• Outros Autores: Abdalla,A.L., Bueno,I.C.S., Gobbo,S.P., Oliveira,A.A.M.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Arquivo brasileiro de medicina veterinária e zootecnia (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0102-09352013000600025
• topic: feed evaluation; microbial protein; nitrogen balance; rumen

The aim of this study was to evaluate the nutritional value of three sorghum cultivars with different concentrations of condensed tannins in sheep diets. Six adult sheep (LW=56kg) with rumen and duodenal fistulas were assigned to experimental groups using two 3x3 Latin Square designs. The diets were formulated using three sorghum cultivars: LTC (low-tannin cultivar), MTC (medium-tannin cultivar) and HTC (high-tannin cultivar). Microbial nitrogen (MN) concentration in the duodenum was measured using a 15N trace technique. LTC, MTC and HTC diets presented values of 788, 722 and 747 (SE=20.6) g kg-1 for dry matter digestibility and 633, 535 and 530 (SE=35.8) g/kg for crude protein digestibility. The LTC diet was significantly different from the other diets (P<0.05). The nitrogen balance was 145.5, 94.8 and 83.8g kg-1 (SE=13.0) for LTC, MTC and HTC, respectively, with LTC showing greater nitrogen retention (P<0.05). Values obtained for MN in the digesta were 301, 364 and 469 (SE=30.6) g kg-1 for LTC, MTC and HTC, respectively, and there was no statistical difference (P&gt;0.05) between the diets. The presence of condensed tannins in the sorghum interfered with the sheep's nitrogen retention; however, the microbial protein supply to the duodenum of the animals was not inhibited.