Estratégias do fornecimento da glicerina bruta para cordeiros em confinamento

Abstract

The sheep production has intensified over the years in the world and in Brazil due to the animals adaptability to the different morfoclimatic conditions. In this way, the consumer market of sheep meat has become increasingly demanding in relation to the parameters of animal production and meat quality. Thus, the search for strategies that enable the improvement in production, as well as the relationship with the costs, lead to studies on alternative foods for nutrition of these animals. It is in this context that crude glycerin emerges as an option in the formulation of diets. According to this, the objective was to evaluate whether the strategies of supplying crude glycerin separate from other dietary ingredients influence the consumption, performance, behavioral and physiological parameters, and carcass and meat characteristics of lambs. The experiment was conducted during the months of April to June 2017, in the city of Janaúba, Minas Gerais, Brazil, at the Experimental farm of the State University of Montes Claros. Twenty-four non-castrated male sheep from Dorper breed with average initial body weight of 18.02 ± 0.54 kg were used. The animals were distributed in the following treatments: Animals that did not receive crude glycerin; Animals that received 500 g kg-1 of crude glycerin on the last day of feedlot as a dietary supplement; Animals that received 100 g kg-1 of crude glycerin in the diet and animals that received 100 g kg-1 of crude glycerin in the diet, and more 500 g kg-1 of crude glycerin as dietary supplement on the last day of feedlot. The results of the analyses showed that the average daily gain, feed conversion, final body weight, physiological parameters, carcass and meat characteristics were similar among lambs fed with crude glycerin or not during confinement. It is concluded, then, that the crude glycerin supplied to feedlot lambs can be used separately from other dietary ingredients, because it maintains the performance, carcass characteristics, meat quality, as well as physiological parameters. On the last day of feedlot there is no need to supply as a dietary supplement.