Farelo de cacau na alimentação de ovinos

This experiment was carried out to evaluate the intakes of dry matter (DMI), crude protein (CPI) and neutral detergent fiber (NDFI), weight gain (WG) and feed:gain ratio (F/G) of sheep fed diets with or without cacao meal (0 and 30%) in substitution for corn and soybean meal based concentrate. Fourteen 5/8 Santa Inês lambs, averaging 30 kg of live weight, were allotted to individual hutches, with feeder and water tank, during 21 days of adaptation and 42 days of experimental period. Sorghum silage, and 400 g of concentrate/day were fed ad libitum. The animals were weighed at the beginning and end of each period. A completely randomized design with two treatments and seven replications was used. The addition of 30% cacao meal to the concentrate, as a substitution for corn and soybean meal, did not show statistical difference for the intakes of DMI, CPI, NDFI, WG and F/G and reduced the concentrate cost in 17.55%.