Caracteristicas de carcaça e viabilidade econômica da dieta de ovinos alimentados com vagem de faveira

Abstract

The objective was to evaluate the replacement of ground corn with faveira pods in the diet of confined sheep on the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the carcass and non carcass components, as well as the economic viability of the experimental diets. Twenty-eight lambs without a defined breed pattern were designed in a randomized block design (DBC) with four treatments and seven replications (mean initial live weight of 16.6 ± 3.8kg and 120 days of age). The experimental diets contained Tifton-85 hay and concentrate (70:30) with increasing levels of crushed faveira pods (0, 33, 66 and 100%) replacing ground corn, thus defining the experimental treatments. The animals remained confined for 60 days, with the first 10 days being used to adapt to experimental facilities and diets. Data analysis was performed using analysis of variance and, when significant at 5%, orthogonal polynomials were determined by linear or quadratic responses (P<0.05). Replacing ground corn with crushed faveira pods in the diet did not influence the carcass characteristics of the animals (P>0.05) and the physical composition of the carcass, nor did it influence the yields of commercial cuts (P>0.05) and tissue composition, thus maintaining similar muscle/fat, muscle/bone proportions and muscle, bone, fat yields. In relation to non-carcass components, no significant effect (P>0.05) was observed for the weights of the rumen, reticulum omasum and abomasum, however, there was a difference (0<0.05) in the respective yields minus the abomasum. There was no difference in the weight of the full gastrointestinal tract (GITc), small intestine (SI), large intestine (LI), liver and esophagus, kidney weight and fat, as well as their respective yields. For omental+mesenteric fat (OMF) a linear decreasing effect was observed (P<0.05). Regarding the financial analysis, it was observed that the use of 100% faveira pods reduces the costs of the feeding system, and the 66VF treatment brought greater total weight gain/kg (11.25kg), better total PV value (R$123.75), higher net benefit (R$44.18) and higher rate of return (55.52%). The use of up to 100% of crushed faveira pod bran replacing ground corn in the diet does not alter the carcass yield of confined sheep. It is also concluded that the use of faveira pods considerably reduces production costs, with its optimum point at the 66VF inclusion level.