FARINHA AMILÁCEA DE BABAÇU NA DIETA DE CAPRINOS EM TERMINAÇÃO.

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of the inclusion of babassu starch meal (BSM), on the productive performance, ingestive behavior, physiological responses, and digestibility of the nutrients of the diets in goats finished in confinement. Twenty - eight goats, neutered, with no defined racial pattern, with initial mean weight of 21.6 ± 3.0kg were distributed in a complete randomized complete block design. Four experimental diets with increasing levels (0, 10, 20 and 30%) of BSM (type I) based on the dry matter (DM) of the diet were evaluated. The experimental period lasted 63 days, with 12 days for adapting the animals to the facilities, diets and management and 51 days for data collection. The collected data were submitted to analysis of variance (test F) and regression, testing the linear and quadratic model with the level of 5% of significance. The intakes of dry matter, organic matter, crude protein, ethereal extract and metabolizable energy were not influenced (P>0.05) by the experimental diets. However, the consumption of neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) increased linearly (P<0.05), while the consumption of non-fibrous carbohydrates decreased linearly. Rates of mean daily weight gain and feed conversion were not affected by FAB inclusion levels. A linear increase (P<0.05) in the digestibility of NDF was observed as a function of increasing levels of BSM in the diet. Feeding, rumination and Idling times, as well as feeding and rumination efficiencies did not differ (P>0.05), except for the feed efficiency of neutral detergent fiber, which increased linearly. The time spent per cheesecake, number of chews per cake, number of cured cakes per day and total chewing time did not suffer (P>0.05) from diets. The water consumption did not present differences (P>0.05) as a function of the increasing levels of BSM. The inclusion of BSM did not alter the respiratory rate (RR) (P>0.05), but altered (P<0.05) the superficial temperature (ST) and rectal temperature (RT), which presented linear increases. BSM (type I) can be added up to 30% in the finishing goat diet, since it increased the CFDN and DFDN without compromising the performance, ingestive behavior and physiological responses of the animals.