BALANÇO DE NITROGÊNIO EM OVINOS MORADA NOVA ALIMENTADOS COM FARELO DE BISCOITO

Objected was to study to evaluate the effects of partially replacing dry ground corn with biscuit meal (BM) on nitrogen balance in Morada Nova hair sheep. Twenty sheep, male, average initial weight 17.3±3.60, entire and 4-mo of age in completely randomized design, were used. All diets contained 30% of hay of Tifton 85 (35 days), and 70% concentrate (corn, soybean meal, and limestone) and four dietary BM levels (0, 15, 30 and 45%, on dry matter basis), totaling five replicates per treatment. The nitrogen balance (NB) was determined as: [N intake - (N fecal + N urine)], where, nitrogen intake (g/day) = N offered - N refusals; and nitrogen retained was obtained like percentage in relation to intake nitrogen. Data were analyzed using the PROC REG procedure in SAS with α=0.05 and submitted to analysis of variance and regression to verify the effects of partially replacing dry ground corn with biscuit meal. Biscuit meal levels did not affect (P>0.05) the variables related to nitrogen balance. Therefore, these results suggest that partially replacing dry ground corn with biscuit meal to the level of 45% on Morada Nova hair sheep diet provides nitrogen balance similar when used only corn as energy source.