Intake, evaluation of small ruminant nutrition system model and prediction of body composition of Santa Ines lambs fed diets with different levels of energy

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the nutrient intake and suitability test of the SRNS nutritional model for dry matter intake (DMI) and average daily gain (ADG), and Hankins and Howe equations to estimate the carcass and empty body chemical composition of 35 Santa Ines lambs, non-castrated, with initial body weight of 14.77 ± 1.26 kg and two months old. After 10 days of adaptation, five animals were slaughtered serving as reference group for estimates of empty body weight (EBW) and initial body composition. The remaining animals were distributed in randomized block design with five treatments with different levels of metabolizable energy (1.13, 1.40, 1.73, 2.22 and 2.60 Mcal/kg DM). Quadratic effect was observed for DMI, expressed in g/d, % BW and g/BW0.75, with maximum DM intake of 867.25 g/d. Non fiber carbohydrates (NFC) and total digestible nutrients (TDN) intakes, expressed in g/d, increased with increases in ME levels and the intakes of neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF) and fibrous carbohydrates (FC), expressed in g/d, presented decreasing linear effect. The DMI and ADG observed and predicted by SRNS model showed a Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.68 and 0.98, respectively. Comparing the chemical composition of the carcass and HH section, observed that HH section estimated satisfactorily the protein and ether extract of carcass of animals, with Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.77 and 0.92, respectively, while the water content was underestimated with Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.42. The rib section also satisfactorily estimated to ether extract and protein in the empty body (r = 0.96 and 0.86, respectively).