Supplementation with foliage of L. leucocephala. Its effect on the apparent digestibility of nutrients and methane production in sheep

Resumen

Four growing-fattening sheep of the Pelibuey breed, with liveweight of 25 kg ? 3.5, canulated in the rumen were used in a change over design to determine the effect of supplementing L. leucocephala foliage on the intake, in vivo methane production and apparent digestibility (AD) of DM, OM and NDF. The diets consisted of 63% of fresh forage of Pennisetum purpureum cv. Cuba CT-169 and 37 % of concentrate (A) or 63 % de fresh forage of Pennisetum, 27 % of Leucaena and 10 % of concentrate (B). The experimental period was of 18 d: twelve of adaptation and six of sampling. The feed offer and rejection were weighed to determine the total intake. The chamber method (tunnels) with open circuit was used to collect the gas expired by the animals. The methane of the collected gas was determined by gas chromatography. The supplementation with leucaena foliage increased (P <0.01) the DM intake (% LW) and OM (kg) in 19 %, compared with the control treatment. It did not affect either the DM AD or the NDF AD. The total volume of produced methane in L.d-1 did not differ between treatments (5.63 and 6.65, respectively). However, when these values were expressed in function of the DM intake, a methane diminish of 16 % was observed in the treatment with leucaena. Under these experimental conditions, the inclusion of 27 % of L. leucocephala in a basal diet of P. purpureum increased the DMand OM intake, and reduced, in 15.6 %, the methane production in L/kg consumed DM, without affecting the apparent digestibility of nutrients in sheep.
Key words: digestion, methanogenesis, rumen, intake, leucaena