Performance of lambs finished in confinement with concentrated supplements containing corn replacement levels by mesquite meal

This study aimed to evaluate the performance of lambs finished in feedlot with concentrated supplements containing corn replacement levels by mesquite meal (MM) in natural matter (NM) and cactus meal dehydrated. The experiment was conducted at the Research Center of Goats and Sheeps in Semi-arid (RCGSS) belonging to the Palmares Farm, located in the county of Ia?u. The experimental period was 65 days, divided into 4 periods of 15 days each and 5 days of data collection in each period. The experimental design was the DIC, with five treatments and five replications, lambs supplemented with the protein, went to the confinement eating the concentrate containing 35% of the mesquite meal (MM) replacing the corn, constituting one of the five treatments. The feedlot diets were composed of 60% of the concentrate and 40% of the cactus meal dehydrated (Opuntia sp.). The animals stemmed from protein supplementation in the growing pasture initiated the phase of Finishing Feedlot with initial body weight lower (P<0,001) than the lambs of the others treatments, with averages of 25,02 and 32,90 kg, respectively. Lambs feed in confinement with palletized diets, containing 47,5% of mesquite meal replacing corn in natural matter, representing an addition of 228 g/kg of dry matter. It was observed quadratic effect (P<0,05) of levels of substitution of corn by MM in lambs fed with cactus meal dehydrated over the consume of FND, BP and NFC, estimating minimum consume of 20,48; 27,94 and 32,80% replacing corn by mesquite meal, respectively, probably under the influence of average body weight of lambs fed with MM levels. Therefore, they presented averages of weight gain higher than the others treatments, once these animals initiated the phase of termination with initial body weight lower than the others treatments, so, had higher gain capacity, characterizing the compensatory gain. Termination of lambs created in pastures and finished in confinement with concentrated containing 60% of mesquite meal provides a higher weight gain. It is recommended to associate a source of effective fiber to improve the digestibility of nutrients and, consequently, improvement of feed conversion.