Digestibilidade da farinha de batata-doce (Ipomoea batata) para inclusão na dieta de ruminantes

Abstract

Livestock production has been developed in recent times in order to cover the demands that the market requires. Therefore, has become necessary to increase the efficiency in both production, as in the use of all resources, especially by the impact that produces, whether economic, social or environmental, especially in countries where costs are higher. Among the costs involving livestock production, the most expressive are those related with feeding, and it is necessary to search for alternatives in this field. Food with easy access, low cost and that contributes to mitigating the environmental impact are preferable. Therefore, the objective of this work was to evaluate the use of sweet potato flour in ruminants diets, through a study of in vitro digestibility gas. It was designed in a completely randomized design in factorial scheme 4 x 4, where four cultivars of sweet potato flour and four levels of replacement of the ground corn by the sweet potato flour were evaluated. Sweet potato varieties used were Beauregard, Catarina, Rubisol and Cabeluda and replacement levels were 0, 33, 66 and 100% of the ground corn by the sweet potato flour. The results were measured from a mathematical model where the volume of gas produced indicates the digestibility and rumen degradation kinetics of food. The four varieties evaluated were similar regarding in vitro digestibility, and the bigger was the replacement of the ground corn for sweet-potato flour, the higher was the production of gas. Thus, sweet potato flour can be used in ruminants diet in replacement of ground corn by bromatology composition and digestibility.