Sweet potato (Ipomea batatas) feed affects intake, digestibility and nitrogen retention of ovine fed with ryegrass hay (Lolium multiflorum Lam)

• Autor(a) principal: Machado,M.C.
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Outros Autores: Corrêa,M.N., Kozloski,G.V., Oliveira,L., Brauner,C.C., Barbosa,A.A., Cardoso,K.B., Del Pino,F.A.B.
• 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=S0102-09352022000100169
• topic: nutrition; ruminants; energy

ABSTRACT This study aimed to evaluate sweet potato feed as an alternative energy supplement for ovine. A latin-square design was used to assess the effects of feeding the animals 0, 0.5, 1 and 1.5% their body weight in sweet potato as well as ryegrass hay (Lolium multiflorum) twice daily, mineral salt and water ad libitum. During this study 8 males were housed in metabolic cages with urine and feces collectors. Each round of experimentation consisted of 14 days adaptation followed by 5 days evaluating the diet, left-overs, feces, and urine to determine intake, digestibility, and nitrogen retention. The results show a linear increase in intake of ryegrass hay, FDN, DM and OM because of the increasing supplementation levels. Similarly, we observed a linear increase in DM and OM intake, as well as in the OM digestibility. Additionally, BP digestibility decreased considering nitrogen excretion. In conclusion, sweet potato feed is a viable alternative for ovine receiving ryegrass hay since it increased DM and OM digestibility, albeit reducing NDF and BP digestibility.