Oléo de copaíba (Copaifera sp.) na alimentação de cordeiros confinados, em substituição a monensina

Abstract

In order to evaluate the influence of copaiba oil in diets of feedlot lambs evaluating performance parameters, quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the carcass of animals and feeding behavior. A total of 30 intact male lambs, crossbred white Dorper, average age of 8 months and average body weight of 22 kg were used. The dietary treatments used were: T1 - 25 mg / kgDM-1 monensin; T2 - 0g copaiba oil inclusion / monensin; T3 - 0.5 g copaiba oil inclusion; T4 - 1.0g copaiba oil inclusion and T5 - 1.5g copaiba oil inclusion. The basic diet provided to all groups was a total mixed ration with a forage: concentrate ratio of 53:47, in which the roughage used was hay of Cynodon spp grasses (Jiggs, Tifton 68 and Tifton 85). These were ground and mixed in the same proportion. The experimental design was a randomized complete block with six (6) replicates per treatment using the initial weight as the covariate. The data were submitted to the program SAS (version 9.1.3, SAS Institute, Cary, NC 2004), and for the verification of normal errors and homogeneity of variance the PROC UNIVARIATE was used. The copaiba oil did not influence the consumption parameters, however it did interfere positively on the average weight gain, feed conversion, confinement time and efficiency. The inclusion of copaiba oil in the diet of lambs did not affect the meat quality, thus it can be used as a potential replacement of monensin. About the feeding behavior, there was a difference in the time of feeding activities beyond the feed efficiencies of the dry matter and the neutral detergent fiber.