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Whole grain diet for Feedlot Lambs
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Short communication
Whole grain diet for Feedlot Lambs夽 Sarita Bonagurio Gallo a,∗ , Fernanda de Almeida Merlin a , Cassio Moreira de Macedo b , Ricardo Dutra de Oliveira Silveira c a b c
School of Animal Science and Food Engineering of USP, Pirassununga Campus, Brazil UNESP, Jaboticabal Campus, SP, Brazil Animal Science at the Associated Colleges of Uberaba-Uberaba-MG, FAZU, Brazil
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history: Received 16 December 2013 Received in revised form 16 May 2014 Accepted 20 May 2014 Available online xxx
Keywords: Carcass conformation Fat cover Carcass yield Production rates Ruminal papillae
a b s t r a c t For a lamb feedlot system became competitive it is essential that an equilibrate nutrition and functional feeding management happens naturally. Therefore, this experiment has the objective to evaluate the efficiency of whole corn grain diet on lambs performance and carcass quality parameters and ruminal papillae development. During the experiment twenty Dorper/Santa Inêscrossbred lambs were used, divided randomly in two treatments: control diet and whole grain diet. The experimental design was completely randomized design and data analysis done by SISVAR using the Tukey test at 5% of probability. No statistical differences were observed on the characteristics evaluated for performance and carcass as well as the length and width of ruminal papillae. The composition of the diet together with the weight gain potential of the lambs can explain the good average daily weight gain of 0.284 kg. The initial body condition average was 2.1 (thin) and improved at the end of the trial period achieving3.15 (normal). Carcass yield reached 46.24%, the results is between the range ideal for specialty meat breeds ranging from 40 to 50%. The carcass conformation, fat cover conformation and the thickness of subcutaneous fat found can be classified as medians. Also there was no difference in the characteristics of ruminal papillae. Thus, it is concluded that the use of whole grain diet did not influence the characteristics evaluated; and the choice of diet should be made with regard to profitability, simplicity of use and availability of forage in feedlot. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction Finish lambs on feedlots it is a technology increasingly used by farmers in Brazilian farming systems, however, these animals are very demanding in nutrients. The feedlot period it is around 60 to 80 days and the animal will normally gain 15–20 kg. Daily weight gains above 250 g
夽 FUNDAGRI-Funded Project Through the Institutional Program of Scientific Initiation of FAZU, Brazil. ∗ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected] (S.B. Gallo).
normally happens, however, 400 g/day or above only can be achieved by animals that have a higher weight gain potential, which comes from genetics trades. The use of technology of diets without forage, based on corn grain healthy (without mash or other process), is another option of diets in feedlots. The diet is characterized by great practicality in providing only two ingredients: corn and pellet with protein, vitamin and mineral concentrate suitable for the challenge of this type of diet. The proportion over-stated and used off the diet is 80% of whole corn grain and 20% of the pellet. As the concept is based primarily on the ingredient “corn”, we have a diet of high energy concentration, resulting in a reduced consumption, due to the high energy chemical effect on the mechanisms that
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.smallrumres.2014.05.014 0921-4488/© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Please cite this article in press as: Gallo, S.B., et al., Whole grain diet for Feedlot Lambs. Small Ruminant Res. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.smallrumres.2014.05.014
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Table 1 Percentual composition of the two diets used on the experiment. Ingredient
Experimental diet Control
Chopped hay Corn Soybean meal Commercial mineral Protein pellet Total
30% 46% 20% 4%
Ingredients Whole grain 80%
20% 100%
Table 2 Bromatological composition of diet control and whole grain diet.
100%
regulate the consumption of ruminant animals. The lower feed intake linked with a higher weight gain and carcass yield provided by higher energy available in the diet, results in improvements in feed conversion. In this context, the objective of this experiment is evaluate the effect of whole corn grain diet has on weight gain; and carcass traits; and morphology the ruminal papilla development of lambs. 2. Materials and methods The experiment was accomplished between the months of October and December 2011 at the farm School of Associated Colleges of UberabaFAZU, in the city of Uberaba-MG, Brazil, at altitude of 780 m and average annual temperature of 21.90 ◦ C. Twenty non-castrated Dorper/Santa Inês crossbreed male lambs were used, with approximate age of 2.5 months and initial live weight (PVI) average of 19.8 kg. The animals were randomly divided in two groups of 10 animals each, and feed in collective pens with space of 1.8 m2 for each animal. The animals had free access to food during all the time and water and covered and shaded rest area, while they achieve an average live weight of 35 kg. To enter in the feedlot lambs were treated with commercial drenches with basis on moxidectin, at the dosage specified by the manufacturer. Diet control balancing was done using the SRNS program (Small Ruminant Nutrition System, Cornell University) that predicts the nutritional requirements of animals and the biological value of foods based on the structure of the CNCPS-SHEEP (Cornell Net Carbohydrate and Protein System–Sheep). The estimate of dry matter intake (DMI) per animal per day was 5% of the live weight and daily weight gain estimated 300 g. Diets were offered 3 times a day. Diets were provided at ad libitum to allow 10% of leftovers, and the average daily consumption of diet (original material) was determined by daily quantify of supply and leftovers throughout the experimental period by weighing the food in counter balance with a maximum capacity of 20 kg. Lambs diets are presented in Table 1. Lambs in whole grain treatment went through an adjustment period of 6 days. Every 2 days the proportion of diet control and whole grain diet was respectively of changed between 75: 25%; 50: 50%; 25: 50%; 0: 100%. During the trial period, collected samples of the diets were provided and subsequently analyzed by the laboratory of Bromatology of Nutron Aliments company. The results of the analyses can be observed in Table 2. For determination of weight variation lambs were weighted every 14 days in a mobile scale with a capacity for 300 kg, for body condition score were subjected to evaluation of as methodology described by Charles e Sousa (2007). The experiment lasted 60 days, 6 days of adaptation and 54 days of evaluation. The final live weight (PVF) medium of lambs was
DM (%) CP (% DM) EE (% DM) ADF (%) NDF (% DM) Ash (% DM) Ca (%) P (%)
Diet Control
Whole grain
89 15.03 3.02 18.90 39.53 9.07 0.80 0.59
89 15.45 3.76 4.18 15.52 5.23 0.69 0.47
DM, dry matter; CP, crude protein; EE, ether extract; NDF, neutral detergent fiber; FDA, acid detergent fiber; Ca, calcium; P, phosphorus.
37.26 kg. The average daily gain (ADG) for treatment was determined by difference between PVI and PVF of the flock and after divided by the evaluation period. After the trial period of performance, the lambs were weighted after fast of solids for 16 hours, to then determinate the live weight at slaughter (PVA) and then slaughtered in commercial meat plant according to standards described in the Regulation of Industrial and Sanitary Inspection of Animal products – RIISPOA (BRASIL, 1962). The carcasses were weighted individually, obtaining the hot carcass weight (PQC). For the determination of hot carcass yield (RCQ), the following formula was used: RCQ = (PCQ/PVA) × 100. Quantitative characteristics evaluated in carcasses were conformation, fat conformation and thickness of subcutaneous fat as methodology adapted from Cezar and Souza (2007). The thickness of subcutaneous fat was measured between the 12th and 13th rib of the rear part of the half-carcass through caliper graduated in mm. Two fragments of each animal were collected after gutting (1 cm2 ), one from the ventral sac and the other from dorsal ruminal sac. After were fixed in buffered neutral formalin with 10% phosphate and processed by routine technique of inclusion in paraffin. These fragments were used in histological sections of 5 m stained by hematoxylin–eosin for analysis to optical microscope (Prophet et al., 1992). The microscope model utilized was a binocular eyepiece with micrometrical. The morphological variables evaluated microscopically were the length and width according to the methodology proposed by Wang et al. (2009), adapted. The length is considered from the papilla apex to your deployment point by linear measurement. The width is from the middle to lateral direction in papilla. These measures were taken using eyepiece with 10× lens. The experimental design was the completely randomized (DIC), with two treatments (diet with forage and forage free diet called the whole grain) and ten repetitions. The statistical analyses were conducted by the Tukey test with 5% probability (P < 0.05) using the SISVAR software, version 5.3 (Build 75) (Ferreira, 2010).
3. Results No significant differences were observed (P > 0.05) in the initial and final live weight, average daily gain and initial and final body condition between the diets evaluated (Table 3). The live weight at slaughter (PVA), hot carcass weight (PCQ), hot carcass yield (RCQ), carcass conformation, fat
Table 3 Initial live weight (PVI), final live weight (PVF), average daily gain (GMD), initial body condition (CCI), final body condition (CCF) of lambs subjected to the different experimental diets. Experimental diet
PVI (kg)
PVF (kg)
GMD (kg)
CCI (points)
CCF (points)
Control Whole grain CV (%)
19.45a 19.77a 9.69
37.69a 36.83a 8.99
0.294a 0.275a 12.64
2.22a 2.02a 11.70
3.30a 3.30a 17.71
Results with same letters in the column do not differ statistically by Tukey test (P > 0.05). CV (%), coefficient of variation.
Please cite this article in press as: Gallo, S.B., et al., Whole grain diet for Feedlot Lambs. Small Ruminant Res. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.smallrumres.2014.05.014
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Table 4 Lambs live weight at slaughter (PVA), hot carcass weight (PCQ), hot carcass yield (RCQ), carcass conformation (CONF. Carc.), fat conformation (CONF. Gord.) and thickness of subcutaneous fat (EGS). Treatment
PVA (kg)
QCP (kg)
RC (%)
Conf. Carc. (points)
Conf. Gord. (points)
EGS (mm)
Control Grain CV (%)
35.69th 34.83a 9.50
16.15a 16.50a 12.25
45.17a 47.31a 5.09
3.65a 4.05a 17.04
3.30a 3.25a 18.66
2.72a 2.53a 32.87
Results with same letters in the column do not differ statistically by Tukey test (P > 0.05). CV (%), coefficient of variation.
conformation and thickness of subcutaneous fat (EGS) had no significant difference (P > 0.05) between diets (Table 4). There were no differences between diets for the length and width of ruminal papillae of lambs, as can be seen in Table 5. 4. Discussion Cartaxo and Souza (2008) achieved average weight gain of 291 g/day evaluating crossbred lambs Dorper × Santa Inês finished in feedlots. These results are similar to those found in this work with the same genetic proposal. The authors stressed that this high daily weight gain can be explained by the earning potential of crossbred lambs. However, Costa et al. (2011) evaluating crossbred lambs Dorper × Santa Inês with initial average weight of 23 kg and 150 days of average age, achieved only an average daily gain of 223 ± 53.7 g. Therefore, the diet used in this experiment potentialized the good genetic material, enhancing the live weight gain during the feedlot, which was expected by the diet formulation and by the SRNS. The body condition allows you to define a good carcass of each breed independent of the slaughter weight. However, Louvandini et al. (2007) points out that this is a subjective measurement that depends a lot on the person who is performing the action, which sometimes makes complicated comparison between experiments. Cartaxo and Souza (2008) stated that lambs slaughtered with intermediate body condition have lower consumption of dry matter, better feed conversion, fewer days in feedlot and higher gross margin, noting that intermediate body condition can be recommended as a criterion for slaughtering of lambs. The animals of this experiment started with body condition score below the nominated for the slaughter, but finished with intermediate body condition indicating that animals were able to slaughter. There was no difference between treatments for body condition, and in both treatments, animals have won in a short period of time a point in the evaluation of the condition, which indicates that the diets proposals have reached the goal of maximizing weight gain of sheep in feedlot. Table 5 Length and width of ruminal papillae of the dorsal bag of lambs confined. Description of ruminal papillae
Length (m) Width (m)
Diet Control
Whole grain
1505 ± 393a 136 ± 20a
1264 ± 284a 149 ± 33a
Different letters in line indicates significative difference by Tukey test at probability of 5%.
The carcasses conformation found in both treatments can be classified as good and the conformation of fat as median, agreeing with the results found by Cezar and Souza (2007), being considered adequate. The EGS varied from 2.53 to 2.72, on average, proving that the finish system was satisfactory in animals of both groups. The crushing process of the corn grain has the purpose of increase the food contact surface with the ruminal microorganisms that will make the digestion process. This is in order to reduce the time spent on this activity, or even enhance the action of digestive enzymes. However, Ørskov and Ryle (1990) has already warned that the grain processing depends also on the animal, as for ovine and caprine animals and calves as well there is no need to grind the grain of corn. Because whole grain also promotes greater time with the chewing and rumination, consequently, will be produced greater amount of saliva that will help stabilize the ruminal pH, not impairing the digestion of food fiber (Van Soest, 1994). These claims agree with the results found in this research project. Because the diet offered with whole grain was efficient, providing a good performance represented by the weight gain and body condition, adequate carcass as can be observed by the parameter carcass yield and its evaluation of muscular conformation and fat; and not caused changes in the taste of the rumen, therefore not changing the ruminal balance. Bolzan et al., 2007 worked with crushed corn, whole grain or whole grain treated with urea, in preparation of sheep diets containing 30; 50 or 70% of concentrate. Observing no effect of interaction (P > 0.05) between corn grain processing and inclusion of concentrate in the diet on final live weight (PV), dry matter intake (CSM), consumption of crude protein (CPB) and neutral detergent fiber consumption (CFDN). The authors concluded that there is no need to grind the corn for preparation of concentrates to be supplied for sheep. Agreeing with the good performance achieved by the lambs in of this work who receive whole corn grain. Majdoub-Mathlouthi et al. (2013) compared two levels of consumption of concentrated (300 g/day or 600 g/day) for Lambs also feed with hay. The authors observed that the high intake of concentrate did not affect the quality of carcass and meat quality (color, profile of fatty acids). Thus, lambs fed with high proportions of concentrate showed carcass and quality meat. This was also observed in this work for the parameters of carcass conformation.
5. Conclusions The experimental diets evaluated on this project do not promoted significant differences in the variables
Please cite this article in press as: Gallo, S.B., et al., Whole grain diet for Feedlot Lambs. Small Ruminant Res. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.smallrumres.2014.05.014
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evaluated in confined lambs, which were average daily gain, body condition, live weight, weight and carcass yield, carcass conformation and fat and subcutaneous fat thickness, length and width of ruminal papillae. It can be concluded that the use of whole grain in the diet of lambs confined is a good alternative due to ease of use, especially in properties where forage production can be problematic, because there is no change in performance and carcass quality when compared to diets composed of forage and concentrates. Conflict of interest None of the authors has a financial or personal relationship with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence or bias the paper. References Bolzan, I.T., Sanchez, L.M.B., Carvalho, P.A., Velho, J.P., de Lima, L.D., Morais, J., Cadorin Jr., R.L., 2007. Consumo edigestibilidade em ovinos alimentados com dietas contendo grão de milho moído, inteiro ou tratado com uréia, com três níveis de concentrado. Ciência Rural 37 (1), 229–234. BRASIL, 1962, March 29. Ministério da Agricultura Pecuária e Abastecimento. Regulamento da Inspec¸ão Industrial e Sanitária de Produtos de Origem Animal – RIISPOA. MAPA, Rio de Janeiro, Available from: http://www.agricultura.gov.br/arq editor/file/Aniamal/ MercadoInterno/Requisitos/RegulamentoInspecaoIndustrial.pdf (accessed 10.12.11).
Cartaxo, F.Q., Souza, W.H., 2008. Correlac¸ões entre as características obtidas in vivo por ultra-som e as obtidas na carcac¸a de cordeiros terminados em confinamento. Revista Brasileira de Zootecnia, Vic¸osa, MG 37 (8), 1490–1495. Cezar, M.F., Souza, W., 2007. H. of Carcac¸as ovinas e caprinas: obtenc¸ão, avaliac¸ão e classificac¸ão. Agropecuária Tropical, Uberaba, MG, 147 pp. Costa, R.G., dos Santos, N.M., de Sousa, W.H., Queiroga, R., de, C.R.E., de Azevedo, P.S., Cartaxo, F.Q., 2011. Qualidade física e sensorial da carne de cordeiros de três genótipos alimentados com rac¸ões formuladas com duas relac¸ões volumoso:concentrado. Revista Brasileira de Zootecnia, Vic¸osa, MG 40 (8), 1781–1787. Ferreira, D.F., 2010. SISVAR: sistema deanálise de variância para dados balanceados. Versão 5.3 (Build 75). DEX/UFLA (Software estatístico), Lavras. Louvandini, H., Nunes, G.A., Garcia, J.A.S., McManus, C., Costa, D.M., de Araújo, S.C., 2007. Desempenho, características de carcac¸a e constituintes corporais de ovinos Santa Inês alimentados com farelo de girassol em substituic¸ão ao farelo de soja na dieta. Revista Brasileira de Zootecnia, Vic¸osa, MG 36 (3), 603–609. Majdoub-Mathlouthi, L., Saïd, L., Say, B.A., Kraiem, K., 2013. Effect of concentrate level and slaughter body weight on growth performances, carcass traits and meat quality of Barbarine lambs fed oat hay based diet. Meat Sci. 93, 557–563. Ørskov, E.R., Ryle, M., 1990. Energy Nutrition in Ruminants. Elsevier Applied Science, London, pp. 149 p, ISBN 1-85166-439-4. Prophet, E.M., Millis, B., Arrington, J.B., Sobin, H.L., 1992. Laboratory Methods is Histotecnology. American Registry of Pathology, Washington, DC, 265 pp. Van Soest, P.J., 1994. Nutritional Ecology of the Ruminant, 2nd ed. Cornell University Press, Ithaca/London, 476 pp. Wang, Y.H., Xu, M., Wang, F.B., Yao, J.H., Yang, F.X., 2009. Effect of dietary starch on rumen and small intestine morphology and digesta pH in goats. Livest. Sci. 122, 48–52.
Please cite this article in press as: Gallo, S.B., et al., Whole grain diet for Feedlot Lambs. Small Ruminant Res. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.smallrumres.2014.05.014
ARTICLE IN PRESS
RUMIN-4743; No. of Pages 4
Small Ruminant Research xxx (2014) xxx–xxx
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Small Ruminant Research journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/smallrumres
Short communication
Whole grain diet for Feedlot Lambs夽 Sarita Bonagurio Gallo a,∗ , Fernanda de Almeida Merlin a , Cassio Moreira de Macedo b , Ricardo Dutra de Oliveira Silveira c a b c
School of Animal Science and Food Engineering of USP, Pirassununga Campus, Brazil UNESP, Jaboticabal Campus, SP, Brazil Animal Science at the Associated Colleges of Uberaba-Uberaba-MG, FAZU, Brazil
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history: Received 16 December 2013 Received in revised form 16 May 2014 Accepted 20 May 2014 Available online xxx
Keywords: Carcass conformation Fat cover Carcass yield Production rates Ruminal papillae
a b s t r a c t For a lamb feedlot system became competitive it is essential that an equilibrate nutrition and functional feeding management happens naturally. Therefore, this experiment has the objective to evaluate the efficiency of whole corn grain diet on lambs performance and carcass quality parameters and ruminal papillae development. During the experiment twenty Dorper/Santa Inêscrossbred lambs were used, divided randomly in two treatments: control diet and whole grain diet. The experimental design was completely randomized design and data analysis done by SISVAR using the Tukey test at 5% of probability. No statistical differences were observed on the characteristics evaluated for performance and carcass as well as the length and width of ruminal papillae. The composition of the diet together with the weight gain potential of the lambs can explain the good average daily weight gain of 0.284 kg. The initial body condition average was 2.1 (thin) and improved at the end of the trial period achieving3.15 (normal). Carcass yield reached 46.24%, the results is between the range ideal for specialty meat breeds ranging from 40 to 50%. The carcass conformation, fat cover conformation and the thickness of subcutaneous fat found can be classified as medians. Also there was no difference in the characteristics of ruminal papillae. Thus, it is concluded that the use of whole grain diet did not influence the characteristics evaluated; and the choice of diet should be made with regard to profitability, simplicity of use and availability of forage in feedlot. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction Finish lambs on feedlots it is a technology increasingly used by farmers in Brazilian farming systems, however, these animals are very demanding in nutrients. The feedlot period it is around 60 to 80 days and the animal will normally gain 15–20 kg. Daily weight gains above 250 g
夽 FUNDAGRI-Funded Project Through the Institutional Program of Scientific Initiation of FAZU, Brazil. ∗ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected] (S.B. Gallo).
normally happens, however, 400 g/day or above only can be achieved by animals that have a higher weight gain potential, which comes from genetics trades. The use of technology of diets without forage, based on corn grain healthy (without mash or other process), is another option of diets in feedlots. The diet is characterized by great practicality in providing only two ingredients: corn and pellet with protein, vitamin and mineral concentrate suitable for the challenge of this type of diet. The proportion over-stated and used off the diet is 80% of whole corn grain and 20% of the pellet. As the concept is based primarily on the ingredient “corn”, we have a diet of high energy concentration, resulting in a reduced consumption, due to the high energy chemical effect on the mechanisms that
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.smallrumres.2014.05.014 0921-4488/© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Please cite this article in press as: Gallo, S.B., et al., Whole grain diet for Feedlot Lambs. Small Ruminant Res. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.smallrumres.2014.05.014
G Model
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RUMIN-4743; No. of Pages 4
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2
Table 1 Percentual composition of the two diets used on the experiment. Ingredient
Experimental diet Control
Chopped hay Corn Soybean meal Commercial mineral Protein pellet Total
30% 46% 20% 4%
Ingredients Whole grain 80%
20% 100%
Table 2 Bromatological composition of diet control and whole grain diet.
100%
regulate the consumption of ruminant animals. The lower feed intake linked with a higher weight gain and carcass yield provided by higher energy available in the diet, results in improvements in feed conversion. In this context, the objective of this experiment is evaluate the effect of whole corn grain diet has on weight gain; and carcass traits; and morphology the ruminal papilla development of lambs. 2. Materials and methods The experiment was accomplished between the months of October and December 2011 at the farm School of Associated Colleges of UberabaFAZU, in the city of Uberaba-MG, Brazil, at altitude of 780 m and average annual temperature of 21.90 ◦ C. Twenty non-castrated Dorper/Santa Inês crossbreed male lambs were used, with approximate age of 2.5 months and initial live weight (PVI) average of 19.8 kg. The animals were randomly divided in two groups of 10 animals each, and feed in collective pens with space of 1.8 m2 for each animal. The animals had free access to food during all the time and water and covered and shaded rest area, while they achieve an average live weight of 35 kg. To enter in the feedlot lambs were treated with commercial drenches with basis on moxidectin, at the dosage specified by the manufacturer. Diet control balancing was done using the SRNS program (Small Ruminant Nutrition System, Cornell University) that predicts the nutritional requirements of animals and the biological value of foods based on the structure of the CNCPS-SHEEP (Cornell Net Carbohydrate and Protein System–Sheep). The estimate of dry matter intake (DMI) per animal per day was 5% of the live weight and daily weight gain estimated 300 g. Diets were offered 3 times a day. Diets were provided at ad libitum to allow 10% of leftovers, and the average daily consumption of diet (original material) was determined by daily quantify of supply and leftovers throughout the experimental period by weighing the food in counter balance with a maximum capacity of 20 kg. Lambs diets are presented in Table 1. Lambs in whole grain treatment went through an adjustment period of 6 days. Every 2 days the proportion of diet control and whole grain diet was respectively of changed between 75: 25%; 50: 50%; 25: 50%; 0: 100%. During the trial period, collected samples of the diets were provided and subsequently analyzed by the laboratory of Bromatology of Nutron Aliments company. The results of the analyses can be observed in Table 2. For determination of weight variation lambs were weighted every 14 days in a mobile scale with a capacity for 300 kg, for body condition score were subjected to evaluation of as methodology described by Charles e Sousa (2007). The experiment lasted 60 days, 6 days of adaptation and 54 days of evaluation. The final live weight (PVF) medium of lambs was
DM (%) CP (% DM) EE (% DM) ADF (%) NDF (% DM) Ash (% DM) Ca (%) P (%)
Diet Control
Whole grain
89 15.03 3.02 18.90 39.53 9.07 0.80 0.59
89 15.45 3.76 4.18 15.52 5.23 0.69 0.47
DM, dry matter; CP, crude protein; EE, ether extract; NDF, neutral detergent fiber; FDA, acid detergent fiber; Ca, calcium; P, phosphorus.
37.26 kg. The average daily gain (ADG) for treatment was determined by difference between PVI and PVF of the flock and after divided by the evaluation period. After the trial period of performance, the lambs were weighted after fast of solids for 16 hours, to then determinate the live weight at slaughter (PVA) and then slaughtered in commercial meat plant according to standards described in the Regulation of Industrial and Sanitary Inspection of Animal products – RIISPOA (BRASIL, 1962). The carcasses were weighted individually, obtaining the hot carcass weight (PQC). For the determination of hot carcass yield (RCQ), the following formula was used: RCQ = (PCQ/PVA) × 100. Quantitative characteristics evaluated in carcasses were conformation, fat conformation and thickness of subcutaneous fat as methodology adapted from Cezar and Souza (2007). The thickness of subcutaneous fat was measured between the 12th and 13th rib of the rear part of the half-carcass through caliper graduated in mm. Two fragments of each animal were collected after gutting (1 cm2 ), one from the ventral sac and the other from dorsal ruminal sac. After were fixed in buffered neutral formalin with 10% phosphate and processed by routine technique of inclusion in paraffin. These fragments were used in histological sections of 5 m stained by hematoxylin–eosin for analysis to optical microscope (Prophet et al., 1992). The microscope model utilized was a binocular eyepiece with micrometrical. The morphological variables evaluated microscopically were the length and width according to the methodology proposed by Wang et al. (2009), adapted. The length is considered from the papilla apex to your deployment point by linear measurement. The width is from the middle to lateral direction in papilla. These measures were taken using eyepiece with 10× lens. The experimental design was the completely randomized (DIC), with two treatments (diet with forage and forage free diet called the whole grain) and ten repetitions. The statistical analyses were conducted by the Tukey test with 5% probability (P < 0.05) using the SISVAR software, version 5.3 (Build 75) (Ferreira, 2010).
3. Results No significant differences were observed (P > 0.05) in the initial and final live weight, average daily gain and initial and final body condition between the diets evaluated (Table 3). The live weight at slaughter (PVA), hot carcass weight (PCQ), hot carcass yield (RCQ), carcass conformation, fat
Table 3 Initial live weight (PVI), final live weight (PVF), average daily gain (GMD), initial body condition (CCI), final body condition (CCF) of lambs subjected to the different experimental diets. Experimental diet
PVI (kg)
PVF (kg)
GMD (kg)
CCI (points)
CCF (points)
Control Whole grain CV (%)
19.45a 19.77a 9.69
37.69a 36.83a 8.99
0.294a 0.275a 12.64
2.22a 2.02a 11.70
3.30a 3.30a 17.71
Results with same letters in the column do not differ statistically by Tukey test (P > 0.05). CV (%), coefficient of variation.
Please cite this article in press as: Gallo, S.B., et al., Whole grain diet for Feedlot Lambs. Small Ruminant Res. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.smallrumres.2014.05.014
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Table 4 Lambs live weight at slaughter (PVA), hot carcass weight (PCQ), hot carcass yield (RCQ), carcass conformation (CONF. Carc.), fat conformation (CONF. Gord.) and thickness of subcutaneous fat (EGS). Treatment
PVA (kg)
QCP (kg)
RC (%)
Conf. Carc. (points)
Conf. Gord. (points)
EGS (mm)
Control Grain CV (%)
35.69th 34.83a 9.50
16.15a 16.50a 12.25
45.17a 47.31a 5.09
3.65a 4.05a 17.04
3.30a 3.25a 18.66
2.72a 2.53a 32.87
Results with same letters in the column do not differ statistically by Tukey test (P > 0.05). CV (%), coefficient of variation.
conformation and thickness of subcutaneous fat (EGS) had no significant difference (P > 0.05) between diets (Table 4). There were no differences between diets for the length and width of ruminal papillae of lambs, as can be seen in Table 5. 4. Discussion Cartaxo and Souza (2008) achieved average weight gain of 291 g/day evaluating crossbred lambs Dorper × Santa Inês finished in feedlots. These results are similar to those found in this work with the same genetic proposal. The authors stressed that this high daily weight gain can be explained by the earning potential of crossbred lambs. However, Costa et al. (2011) evaluating crossbred lambs Dorper × Santa Inês with initial average weight of 23 kg and 150 days of average age, achieved only an average daily gain of 223 ± 53.7 g. Therefore, the diet used in this experiment potentialized the good genetic material, enhancing the live weight gain during the feedlot, which was expected by the diet formulation and by the SRNS. The body condition allows you to define a good carcass of each breed independent of the slaughter weight. However, Louvandini et al. (2007) points out that this is a subjective measurement that depends a lot on the person who is performing the action, which sometimes makes complicated comparison between experiments. Cartaxo and Souza (2008) stated that lambs slaughtered with intermediate body condition have lower consumption of dry matter, better feed conversion, fewer days in feedlot and higher gross margin, noting that intermediate body condition can be recommended as a criterion for slaughtering of lambs. The animals of this experiment started with body condition score below the nominated for the slaughter, but finished with intermediate body condition indicating that animals were able to slaughter. There was no difference between treatments for body condition, and in both treatments, animals have won in a short period of time a point in the evaluation of the condition, which indicates that the diets proposals have reached the goal of maximizing weight gain of sheep in feedlot. Table 5 Length and width of ruminal papillae of the dorsal bag of lambs confined. Description of ruminal papillae
Length (m) Width (m)
Diet Control
Whole grain
1505 ± 393a 136 ± 20a
1264 ± 284a 149 ± 33a
Different letters in line indicates significative difference by Tukey test at probability of 5%.
The carcasses conformation found in both treatments can be classified as good and the conformation of fat as median, agreeing with the results found by Cezar and Souza (2007), being considered adequate. The EGS varied from 2.53 to 2.72, on average, proving that the finish system was satisfactory in animals of both groups. The crushing process of the corn grain has the purpose of increase the food contact surface with the ruminal microorganisms that will make the digestion process. This is in order to reduce the time spent on this activity, or even enhance the action of digestive enzymes. However, Ørskov and Ryle (1990) has already warned that the grain processing depends also on the animal, as for ovine and caprine animals and calves as well there is no need to grind the grain of corn. Because whole grain also promotes greater time with the chewing and rumination, consequently, will be produced greater amount of saliva that will help stabilize the ruminal pH, not impairing the digestion of food fiber (Van Soest, 1994). These claims agree with the results found in this research project. Because the diet offered with whole grain was efficient, providing a good performance represented by the weight gain and body condition, adequate carcass as can be observed by the parameter carcass yield and its evaluation of muscular conformation and fat; and not caused changes in the taste of the rumen, therefore not changing the ruminal balance. Bolzan et al., 2007 worked with crushed corn, whole grain or whole grain treated with urea, in preparation of sheep diets containing 30; 50 or 70% of concentrate. Observing no effect of interaction (P > 0.05) between corn grain processing and inclusion of concentrate in the diet on final live weight (PV), dry matter intake (CSM), consumption of crude protein (CPB) and neutral detergent fiber consumption (CFDN). The authors concluded that there is no need to grind the corn for preparation of concentrates to be supplied for sheep. Agreeing with the good performance achieved by the lambs in of this work who receive whole corn grain. Majdoub-Mathlouthi et al. (2013) compared two levels of consumption of concentrated (300 g/day or 600 g/day) for Lambs also feed with hay. The authors observed that the high intake of concentrate did not affect the quality of carcass and meat quality (color, profile of fatty acids). Thus, lambs fed with high proportions of concentrate showed carcass and quality meat. This was also observed in this work for the parameters of carcass conformation.
5. Conclusions The experimental diets evaluated on this project do not promoted significant differences in the variables
Please cite this article in press as: Gallo, S.B., et al., Whole grain diet for Feedlot Lambs. Small Ruminant Res. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.smallrumres.2014.05.014
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evaluated in confined lambs, which were average daily gain, body condition, live weight, weight and carcass yield, carcass conformation and fat and subcutaneous fat thickness, length and width of ruminal papillae. It can be concluded that the use of whole grain in the diet of lambs confined is a good alternative due to ease of use, especially in properties where forage production can be problematic, because there is no change in performance and carcass quality when compared to diets composed of forage and concentrates. Conflict of interest None of the authors has a financial or personal relationship with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence or bias the paper. References Bolzan, I.T., Sanchez, L.M.B., Carvalho, P.A., Velho, J.P., de Lima, L.D., Morais, J., Cadorin Jr., R.L., 2007. Consumo edigestibilidade em ovinos alimentados com dietas contendo grão de milho moído, inteiro ou tratado com uréia, com três níveis de concentrado. Ciência Rural 37 (1), 229–234. BRASIL, 1962, March 29. Ministério da Agricultura Pecuária e Abastecimento. Regulamento da Inspec¸ão Industrial e Sanitária de Produtos de Origem Animal – RIISPOA. MAPA, Rio de Janeiro, Available from: http://www.agricultura.gov.br/arq editor/file/Aniamal/ MercadoInterno/Requisitos/RegulamentoInspecaoIndustrial.pdf (accessed 10.12.11).
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Please cite this article in press as: Gallo, S.B., et al., Whole grain diet for Feedlot Lambs. Small Ruminant Res. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.smallrumres.2014.05.014