Nutritional evaluation of babassu endocarp meal type II with different inclusions in sheep diets

Industrialization of the Babassu coconut for edible oil production generates many co-products and has great potential to be used in ruminant nutrition. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of different inclusions of endocarp meal type II of Babassu coconut (BEMII) on intake and digestibility of sheep diets. Twenty non-castrated male sheep with an undefined breed were distributed in a completely randomized design with four treatments and five replications. The animals received an experimental diet with increasing inclusions of BEMII (0.0%, 7.5%, 15.0%, and 22.5%). Increasing additions of the co-product negatively influenced dry matter intake (g/BW and g/kg(0.75)). Crude protein intake (in grams) per day decreased linearly with the inclusion of BEMII, presenting a reduction of 49.35 g/d. The inclusion of 7.5% showed the best response for energy balance among all inclusions and presented the closest nitrogen balance value when compared to the control group; therefore, this inclusion percentage is the best for endocarp meal utilization.