Methane emission, milk yield and behavior of ewes kept on pastures or supplemented with concentrate based on corn grain or whole cottonseed.

• Autor(a) principal: NOGUEIRA, G. H. M. S. M. F.
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Outros Autores: SANTOS, R. N., GOIS, G. C., GALVANI, D. B., MORAES, S. A. de, NOGUEIRA, D. M., VOLTOLINI, T. V.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da EMBRAPA (Repository Open Access to Scientific Information from EMBRAPA - Alice)
• Texto Completo: http://www.alice.cnptia.embrapa.br/alice/handle/doc/1153440; https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-4162-12807
• topic: Suplementação concentrada; Emissão de gases do efeito estufa; Pastagem tropical; Produção de leite; Grão de milho; Caroço de algodão; Tifton 85; Efeito Estufa; Ovelha; Ovino; Greenhouse gas emissions; Tropical pastures; Sheep; Ewes; Feed concentrates; Animal behavior; Feed supplements; Cynodon

This study aimed to evaluate methane emission, milk yield and behavior of ewes kept exclusively on irrigated pasture of Tifton 85 grass (Cynodon spp.) or supplemented with ground corn or whole cottonseed (WCS) based concentrates. Twelve Lacaune x Santa Ines ewes (43.07±0.83 kg of body weight, 77±24 days after parturition, on average) were distributed in replicated 3x3 Latin square. Treatments consisted of three diets: pasture (no concentrate supplementation); corn (pasture + corn-based supplement); whole cottonseed (pasture + whole cottonseed-based supplement), offering 0.5 kg/ewe/day. The WCS group showed the highest concentrate dry matter intake (DMI) (p=0.049) and crude protein (CP) intake (p=0.001) compared to the others. There was no difference on total DMI (p=0.115) for the tested diets. Animals exclusively kept on pasture had the greatest forage DMI (p=0.004), lowest CP digestibility (p=0.015), showed longer grazing time (p=0.01) and shorter idle time (p=0.01) compared to the supplemented groups. Milk yield (0.36 kg/ewe/day) (p=0.15) and methane emission (33.12 g/ewe/day) (p=0.95) were similar for all three evaluated groups. Supplementation with concentrate based on corn or whole cottonseed does not improve productive performance nor decrease methane emission. However, lactating ewes kept exclusively in pasture show longer grazing time, without changes in milk yield and methane emission.