Correlação entre pH ruminal e pH das fezes em bovinos alimentados com diferentes proporções de concentrados e volumosos na dieta

Abstract

Cattle feed is basically composed of forages and concentrates. With each new high concentrate supplementation there will be an increase in the production of organic acids, reducing the pH and altering microbial production. The experiment was carried out at the Ruminant Teaching and Research Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná, Dois Vizinhos campus with the objective of analyzing the pH of rumen fluid and the pH of feces after ingestion of diets with different levels of roughage and concentrate, being 60% roughage and 40% concentrate, 40% roughage and 60% concentrate and 10% roughage and 90% concentrate, in a completely randomized design with two replications. Samples collected from two adult cattle, castrated and cannulated in the rumen. Collections took place after 10 days of adaptation to the diet, in parallel with the collection of feces. The results obtained with the following research showed a correlation, albeit low, between the two variables, rumen pH and fecal pH. However, in relation to the averages, it was observed that the pH of the feces drops together with that of the rumen, but with low significance. Regarding times, it was observed that only at time 9 there was a significant reduction in rumen pH, reaching a value of 5.87. On the other hand, no clear association was identified between collection times and fecal pH characteristics.