Intake and Digestibility of Diets with Different Amounts of Senna Spectabilis in Hair Lambs

The aim of this study was to determine the intake and digestibility of diets with different amounts of fruits of Senna spectabilis. The experiment was carried at Las Brisas Farm of the University of Tolima – Colombia. Twelve hair lambs (22 ± 2.5) were housed individually in digestion crates in 4 x 4 Latin square design. Each period consisted with 14 d of adaptation and 5 d of sample collection. The feeding treatments evaluated were based on hay from Dichantium aristatum with incremental amounts of S. spectabilis: 0, 15, 30 and 45%. The digestibility of the diets were determined through the total stool collection. Twelve crossbred male lambs were assessed, with an average weight of 22 Kg (± 4.49) housed for 14 days in a shed for adaptation to the experimental diets and 5 days in metabolic cages for the recollection and weighting of the food and feces of each experimental period. Data was analysed using PROC REG of SAS v9.1. The results (Table 1) show that the dry matter intake (DMI) was not influenced by the inclusions of S. spectabilis; however, crude protein (CP) intake did improve as fruit inclusion increased (P ˂0.0001). The amount of S. spectabilis was directly correlated with the improvement in the digestibility of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), and the (CP) (P ˂0.0001). We conclude that the inclusion of the fruit, S. spectabilis, can improve consumption of CP and the in vivo digestibility of DM, OM and CP in hair lambs.

Table 1. In vivo digestibility of the DM, OM and the RP in lambs fed with varying levels of fruits of S. spectabilis.
Variable		Treatments				EE	P- value
		T 1 (0%)	T2 (15%)	T3 (30%)	T4 (45%)		L	Q
DM	Intake, g/day	529.56	545.19	547.50	524.56	0.92	0.0005	0.002
	Dig,%	50.29	50.61	56.01	57.64	5.85	0.875	0.555
OM	Intake, g/day	492.83	508.49	513.01	491.92	8.14	0.980	0.539
	Dig,%	54.64	54.86	59.60	61.49	0.87	0.001	0.001
NDF	Intake, g/day	411.87	396.40	379.45	342.07	5.90	˂0.0001	˂0.0001
	Dig,%	50.86	51.52	54.91	52.36	0.94	0.342	0.477
CP	Intake, g/day	19.68	30.40	35.19	37.47	1.29	˂0.0001	˂0.0001
	Dig,%	44.36	56.80	58.39	65.94	1.69	˂0.0001	˂0.0001