Nutrient metabolism and ingestive behavior of goats fed diets containing palm tree fruit

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the nutrient metabolism and ingestive behavior of goats fed diets containing palm tree fruits. Twenty-one female goats fed three diets, one control and two with carnauba or tucum fruits, were assigned to a completely randomized design. There was a decrease in dry matter intake (DMI) from 0.183 and 0.223 kg/day for diets containing tucum and carnauba fruits, respectively, with higher intake of neutral detergent fiber (NDF) (0.41 kg/day) for diet containing carnauba fruit. The intake of digestible protein (78.04 gDP/day) and metabolizable energy (2.51 McalME/day) from the diet with tucum fruit met the nutritional requirements of the animals. The inclusion of tucum fruits resulted in lower intake, absorption and retention of nitrogen (19.20; 14.67 and 11.55 gN/day, respectively), with N balance (%Ningested) above 60%, in addition to the increase of 0.57 Mcal/kgDM of the digestible energy of the diets. As for the ingestive behavior, the diets containing fruits of carnauba demanded more time for rumination (453.65 min/day). The inclusion of tucum fruits in diets composed of corn, soybean and Tifton 85 hay meets the requirements of growing goats as regards to digestible protein and metabolizable energy. Diets containing carnauba fruit reduce the digestibility of dry matter due to the increase in the proportion of fiber and its low quality, which, together with the low feed efficiency, suggests the inclusion of carnauba fruit in a smaller proportion for growing animals or only in maintenance diets.