Milho grão moído, reidratado e ensilado em dietas para cordeiros confinados

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance and ingestive behavior of Santa Inês lambs fed different levels of ground, rehydrated and ensiled corn grain (MGMRE) to replace ground corn in the concentrate. Forty lambs were confined in individual pens, with an initial average body weight of 21 ± 2.8 kg, being randomly distributed in a completely randomized design with five treatments and eight replications. The treatments consisted of replacing ground corn at 0, 250, 500, 750 and 1000 g/kg of dry matter of the concentrate by MGMRE. The animals were weighed at the beginning, middle and end of the experiment to measure average daily weight gain and final body weight. Behavioral observations were performed every five minutes for a 24-hour period. The gains in total weight (16.65 kg), final body weight (37.71 kg) and average daily gain (260.30 g/day) were not influenced (P>0.05) by the MGMRE levels of the diets. NDF intake, feed and rumination efficiency were linearly influenced (P<0.05) by MGMRE levels. Thus, we conclude that ground corn can be completely 23replaced by ground corn grain, rehydrated and ensiled in diets for confined Santa Inês lambs.