ABSTRACT. The cashew pseudo fruit can be used to animal feeding in tropical and subtropical countries as Brazil, Ivory Coast and Vietnam. Thus, our objective was to evaluate the intake, digestibility of nutrients and nitrogen balance of dehydrated cashew apple by-product to sheep. The experiment was carried out with 24 sheep in a completely randomized design with the treatments distributed in a 4 x 2 factorial scheme to test the inclusion (11, 21, 28 and 33% dry matter basis) and the grinding sizes (3 and 19 mm diameter) of dehydrated cashew apple by-product. To grinding sizes there was no effect to intake and digestibility, suggesting the use of dehydrated cashew apple by-product either finely or coarsely milled. The inclusion up to 33% of dehydrated cashew apple by-product inclusion did not affect voluntary intake and nitrogen balance. However, when including above 21%, there was a reduction of ether extract digestibility and more than 28% reduced dry matter and organic matter digestibility.

RESUMO As condições de restrição hídrica no semiárido brasileiro são um dos fatores limitantes ao estabelecimento e produtividade de gramíneas forrageiras. Objetivou-se, com este estudo, avaliar o efeito de diferentes turnos de rega sobre as características morfogênicas, estruturais e produtivas de capim-buffel. O delineamento experimental foi o de blocos casualizados, com cinco tratamentos e seis repetições. Os tratamentos consistiram de cinco turnos de rega, correspondentes aos intervalos de 2, 4, 6, 8 e 10 dias. As variáveis analisadas foram: taxa de aparecimento foliar, filocrono, taxa de alongamento foliar e de colmo, taxa de senescência foliar, comprimento final da folha, número de folhas vivas por perfilho, número de perfilhos, altura do colmo, relação lâmina/colmo, índice de área foliar, massa seca de lâmina e colmo verde, massa seca de forragem verde, morta e total, massa seca de raiz, matéria seca e relação massa seca verde/massa seca morta. Não foi constatado efeito dos turnos de rega sobre o comprimento final da folha e massa seca de forragem morta. A relação lâmina/colmo apresentou comportamento quadrático, mantendo-se a 0,51, até o turno de rega de quatro dias. As demais características morfológicas, estruturais e produtivas decresceram linearmente com o aumento dos turnos de rega. O espaçamento dos turnos de rega promoveu reduções nos parâmetros morfológicos, estruturais e produtivos do capim-buffel, quando cultivado em casa-de-vegetação. O turno de rega de 2 dias destaca-se como o menos restritivo ao desenvolvimento do capim-buffel.

ABSTRACT The water restriction conditions in the Brazilian semiarid region are one of the most limiting factors to the establishment and yield of forage grasses. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of different irrigation regimes on morphogenetic, structural and productive traits of buffel grass. Arandomized blocks design, with five treatments and six replications, was used. Treatments consisted of five irrigation regimes, corresponding to the intervals of 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 days. The traits analyzed were: leaf emergence rate, phyllochron, leaf and stem elongation rate, leaf senescence rate, final leaf length, number of green leaves per tiller, number of tillers, stem height, leaf/stem ratio, leaf area index, dry mass of green leaf and stem, dry mass of green, dead and total forage, root dry mass, dry mass and green dry mass/dead dry mass ratio. The final leaf length and dead forage dry mass were not affected by the irrigation regimes. The leaf/stem ratio followed a quadratic model, maintaining the value of 0.51 up to the irrigation regime of four days. The other morphological, structural and productive traits decreased linearly with increasing irrigation frequencies. The irrigation intervals promoted reductions in the morphological, structural and productive parameters of buffel grass, when grown under greenhouse conditions. The irrigation regime of 2 days stands out as the least restrictive to the development of buffel grass.