Ingestive behavior of lambs fed with macauba meal

The effects of different percentages (0, 10, 20 and 30%) of inclusion of macauba meal (MM) on the ingestive behavior of 24 Santa Ines male lambs, averaging five months of age and 23.9kg of initial body weight were studied. The animals were allotted to a completely randomized block design with four treatments and six replications during 60 days of confinement. The variables measured were time spent in rumination (TR), idle time (IT), total chewing (TC), power efficiency (PEDM and PENDF) and efficiency of rumination, as well as the number of ruminated bolus (NRB) and daily number of chews (Cnd). The addition of MM to the diet increased TR, TC, NRB, Cnb and PENDF linearly, and reduced IT linearly, as a result of higher content of neutral detergent fiber in the diet. Although there was an increase in TC, no difference was verified in the consumption and efficiency of rumination and feeding of DM, possibly due to the low efficiency of fiber, which demonstrates the potential use of this coproduct in the diet of growing sheep.