Use of rice bran in the diet of ewes in feedlot

Abstract

The rice bran is a by-product of the rice industries that has important nutritional values and can therefore be considered as an alternative to include them in a sheep’s food program. The objective of the work was to evaluate the effect of partial replacement of ground corn by rice bran on productive parameters of sheep in feedlot. The experimental design was completely randomized with four treatments and three repetitions, each repetition was composed of 2 ewes, thus totaling 12 experimental units (24 animals of 26 ± 2kg PV on average). The treatments consisted of the partial substitution of ground corn for rice bran in the diet. The levels were 0% for T1, 15% for T2, 30% for T3 and 45% for T4. The rations also contained soybean expeller, mineral salt, urea, calcium carbonate and Pangola hay (Digitaria decumbens) as a voluminous source. The duration of the experiment was 56 days. The weightings and ration adjustment were made every 14 days. The data collected were subjected to an Analysis of variance (ANOVA) at 5% error probability. The results obtained indicate that there were no significant statistical differences in the variables daily weight gain, total weight gain, intake and feed conversion ratio, with average values of 200 g.dia-1, 10.8 kg, 4.7% and 7.4 respectively. Therefore, it can be inferred that it is feasible to use rice bran instead of ground corn up to 45% without affecting the productive parameters evaluated.