Morphometry of the ruminal mucosa of Santa Ines lambs fed with levels of palm kernel cake (Elaeis guineensis), from biodiesel production

Abstract

The work was carried out to determine the best level of inclusion of palm kernel cake in the concentrate-based morphometry evaluation of the ruminal mucosa in Santa Ines lambs. The experiment lasted 80 days, the Tifton-85 hay in a proportion 50 forage 50concentrado. The food was offered at 9:00 and 16:00. We used 32 sheep of Santa Ines, between 4 and 6 months and body weight of 22 ± 2.75 kg. The experiment was a completely randomized design with four treatments and eight repetitions. The treatments consisted in the inclusion levels of palm kernel cake (0.0, 6.5, 13.0 and 19.5%) in the dry matter. Variables evaluated in the ruminal mucosa were: height, width, area, density and thickness of papillary muscular layer of the rumen in the regions of the dorsal and ventral sac. There were no significant differences in the region of the dorsal sac of the rumen for variables analyzed with the inclusion of palm kernel cake in the diet. The ventral surface papillary bag quadratic effect, whereas the thickness of muscular layer decreasing linear effect. The inclusion of up to 19.5% palm kernel cake had no significant effect on the morphology of the papillae may be included in the diet of Santa Ines lambs.