Diets Based on Sugar Cane Treated with Calcium Oxide for Lambs

Abstract

This experiment was conducted to evaluate the intake, nutrient apparent digestibility and the effect of total collection days (two and four days) on apparent digestibility estimates for lambs fed diets containing sugar cane treated with calcium oxide (CaO). Eight Santa Inês castrated male lambs with a 16.6±1.8 kg body weight were used. The lambs were distributed in two 4×4 Latin squares, with four experimental periods of 14 d each. The animals were kept in 1.2 m2 individual pens, and the intake and digestibility evaluations were performed during the last four days of each period. The diets were formulated to be isonitrogenous, containing 14% crude protein (CP), and presenting 70% sugar cane treated with 0, 0.75, 1.5 or 2.25% of CaO (as-fed basis), corrected with 1% urea, and 30% concentrate. The sugar cane with added CaO was chopped, treated, and offered to the animals after 24 h of storage. The sugar cane with CaO increased the DM, OM, CP, NDF, NDFap, TC, NFCap and TDN intake (kg/d), when compared to natural sugar cane, and produced the same intake expressed as a percentage of body weight (% BW). The NFCap digestibility of the CaO-treated sugar cane was inferior to the NFCap digestibility in natural sugar cane. There was a linear increase in the DM intake with the CaO-added sugar cane, but the DM and NDF digestibility and the TDN content decreased linearly. The chemical treatment of sugar cane with CaO increases the intake but does not improve the nutrient digestibility. Two days of total fecal collection were found to be sufficient to estimate the total apparent digestibility in lambs.

Effect of treating sugarcane bagasse with urea and calcium hydroxide on feed intake, digestibility, and rumen fermentation in beef cattle

“…Apparent digestibility of OM and CP in cattle fed with SBU was the highest (P < 0.05) among groups while NDF and ADF digestibility was most improved in cattle consumed SBUC as roughage source, followed by SBU, RS, and SB, respectively. According to Khejornsart et al (2011) and Carvalho et al (2013), alkaline treatment could improve digestibility and feed intake of ruminants because it alters the structure of lignin removal from the lignocellulose. Removing lignin from the inner parts of the cell wall consequently resulted in a damage and porous morphology by separation of cell bundles, forming long cellular structures, which are well connected in the longitudinal direction (Rezende et al 2011).…”

“…The concentration of alkaline agents can chemically break the ester bonds between lignin and hemicellulose and cellulose, and physically make structural fibers swollen ) which enable rumen microbes to attack the structural carbohydrates more easily (Castañón-Rodríguez et al 2015). Moreover, Carvalho et al (2013) reported that feeding alkali-treated SB increased feed intake and body weight (BW) of ruminant. However, there are still a limitation data on the use of calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH) 2 ) and/or combination with urea for SB treatment on nutritive quality and the use as roughage source for ruminant feeding.…”

Chemical composition and dry matter digestibility of sugar cane oxide treated with calcium

“…Recently, the use of calcium oxide (CaO) in the treatment of sugar cane has been reported to maintain the nutritional quality of forage for a few days without the need for daily cuts (Oliveira et al, 2007) and to improve its nutritional value (Pires et al, 2010;Carvalho et al, 2013).…”

Intake and ingestive behavior in lambs fed low-digestibility forages

“…Sugarcane is an excellent alternative feed for ruminants during droughts, and although sugarcane is low-quality forage, its use is justified by being an easily implemented perennial crop with high productivity (Carvalho et al 2013).…”