Uso de taninos condensados na dieta para borregas: parâmetros nutricionais e metabólicos

Abstract

Secondary compounds present in plants emerge as a promising alternative to the use of antibiotics. Among them, condensed tannins, which have a modulating action on ruminal fermentation. At adequate levels, they can improve protein utilization, microbial synthesis, and animal performance. The experimental trial aims to evaluate the effects of condensed tannins, with different compositions and dosages, on nutritional and metabolic parameters. The experiment was conducted from August to September 2020, at the Federal University of Uberlândia (UFU). Twenty crossbred Dorper × Santa Inês ewes were kept in individual metabolic cages equipped with a trough, drinker, and salt shaker according to the INCT standard, for a 20-day experimental period, with 15 days of adaptation and 5 days for collection. The experimental design was randomized (DIC), with five treatments and four replicates. The treatments consisted of: control group (without tannins), Silvafeed® ByPro condensed tannin (inclusion of 0.15 and 0.10% in DM) and Silvafeed® BX condensed tannin (0.8 and 0.6% in DM), with only Silvafeed® BX containing saponins in its composition. The data were subjected to analysis of normality and homoscedasticity of variances (Shapiro-Wilk and KolmogorovSmirnov tests and Bartlett's test) and the means were compared by the Student-Newman-Keuls (SNK) test. Although there were no significant differences between the treatments evaluated in this study, the results related to dry matter intake (DMI), crude protein intake (CPB) and crude protein digestibility (DPB) were above the recommended, providing good nutritional status of the diet and efficiency of protein use. It is concluded that the inclusion of condensed tannins at different doses does not change the nutritional and metabolic parameters of the lambs.