In natura residues from peach palm heart industry for ruminant feed

ABSTRACT. Palm heart processing generates a large amount of residues like leaves, sheath and stems that have potential for ruminant feeding. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of in natura peach palm heart (Bactris gasipaes Khunt.) residues on performance, dry matter (DM) digestibility and intake of ruminants. External sheath was the most suitable residue for sheep, cattle and buffaloes feeding, although sheep presented rejection of 43.5 g kg-1. Thereby, assays of apparent and in vitro dry matter digestibility were done under four feeding treatments, which were the exclusive peach palm sheath, and that one mixed with residues of banana and rice, besides citrus pulp. The experiment was carried out under randomized complete design, with five replications. Greater DM intake (p < 0.05) were observed in animals fed with peach palm sheath mixed with rice (1.12 kg day-1) and mixed with citrus pulp (0.91 kg day-1), however there were no difference among treatments regarding the sheep final weight (p > 0.05). Cattle and buffaloes accept different types of peach palm residues, unlike sheep that present a low rejecting for them. Citrus pulp and rice residue raise the roughage quality. Peach palm residues can be an alternative roughage source to feed ruminants.摘要。桃棕榈心加工过程会产生大量残渣，涵盖叶片、叶鞘与茎秆，此类残渣具备反刍动物饲养的应用潜力。本研究旨在评估新鲜桃棕榈嫩心（Bactris gasipaes Khunt.）残渣对反刍动物生产性能、干物质（Dry Matter, DM）采食量及消化率的影响。尽管绵羊对桃棕榈叶鞘的拒食率为43.5 g·kg⁻¹，但叶鞘仍是最适配绵羊、牛及水牛饲喂的残渣类型。据此，本研究设置4种饲喂处理开展表观干物质消化率与体外干物质消化率试验，分别为纯桃棕榈叶鞘日粮，以及桃棕榈叶鞘分别与香蕉残渣、水稻残渣及柑橘粕混合的复合日粮。试验采用完全随机设计，设置5次重复。饲喂桃棕榈叶鞘与水稻残渣混合日粮的动物干物质采食量最高（1.12 kg·d⁻¹，p<0.05），其次为叶鞘与柑橘粕混合组（0.91 kg·d⁻¹），但各处理组间绵羊终末体重无显著差异（p>0.05）。牛与水牛可较好接受各类桃棕榈残渣，与绵羊形成鲜明对比——绵羊对这类残渣的拒食率相对较低。柑橘粕与水稻残渣可提升粗饲料品质。桃棕榈残渣可作为反刍动物饲喂的替代粗饲料来源。