Balanço de nitrogênio em cordeiros confinados recebendo silagem de milho com ou sem feijão guandu

Abstract

The inclusion of legumes in grass silage through intercropping increases the nutritional value of the silage, potentially leading to better productive outcomes and making the production system more efficient and sustainable. It is important to understand the effect of these nutritional strategies in order to determine whether the practice yields positive results. Therefore, the study aims to evaluate the nitrogen balance in lambs finished in confinement, receiving corn silage with or without the inclusion of pigeon pea. Dorper x Santa Inês crossbred lambs will be used, distributed in a completely randomized design with two treatments (corn silage with and without the inclusion of pigeon pea) and three replicates. The experimental period will be 63 days, divided into three periods of 21 days, with fecal and urine samples collected during the last five days. Nitrogen (N) intake, N excretion in urine and feces, and the efficiency of N use in lambs will be determined. The diet without the inclusion of pigeon pea resulted in higher N intake and retention and demonstrated superior efficiency of N utilization (EUN) in two out of the three evaluation periods. However, the overall mean EUN did not differ significantly between treatments.