Abstract Concentrated supplementation of ewes is a strategy to increase productivity. The objective was to evaluate the effects of supplementation in the diet of ewes before, during and in the final third of pregnancy and lactation on, the performance and production and composition of colostrum and milk. Forty animals were distributed in a completely randomized design, into the following treatments: CONT = control treatment with mineral salt supplementation only, SSREPRO = supplementation started 20 days before the estrus synchronization (ES) protocol, SSPREG = suplementação a partir da confirmação da gestação (60 days after ES), and SEPREG = supplementation in the third end of pregnancy (90 days after ES). Supplementation adoption changed (P < 0.05) the intake of organic matter, crude protein, neutral detergent fiber, the percentage of total digestible nutrients, and digestibility of dry matter, acid detergent fiber, non-fiber carbohydrates, and ether extract with their respective intake, in addition to colostrum and milk production and composition and animal performance. No difference (P > 0.05) was observed for organic matter, crude protein, and neutral detergent fiber digestibility and total digestible nutrient intake. Thus, supplementation in the final third of pregnancy may result in heavier lambs at weaning, reduction in slaughter time. productivity on design treatments only 2 ES (ES protocol 60 (6 ES, , ES) 90 (9 ES. . P 0.05 005 0 05 matter protein nutrients nonfiber non carbohydrates Thus weaning time 6 ( 9 0.0 00 0.

ABSTRACT This study aimed to evaluate the effects of sunflower meal (SFM) inclusion on the performance, nutrient digestibility, and respirometric parameters in sheep. Twenty-four Dorper × Santa Inês uncastrated males, with an average age of 5 mo and initial body weight (BW) of 27.91±6.0 kg, were distributed in a randomized block design with four treatment diets containing 0, 100, 200, and 300 g of SFM/kg of total dry matter, replacing soybean meal. Intake, weight gain, ingestive behavior, and in vitro digestibility were evaluated according to the SFM inclusion. The respirometric parameters were evaluated in an open-circuit respirometric chamber. There was a quadratic response in dry matter intake expressed according to the SFM inclusion, with minimum points of 90.56 g/kg 0.75 BW for inclusion levels of 96 g of SFM/kg. A linear decrease in the in vivo digestibility of dry matter, neutral detergent fiber, and non-fibrous carbohydrate and in vitro fermentation of dry matter and fibrous carbohydrates was observed in response to SFM inclusion. These results reflect the higher fiber content of the byproduct, which reduced the non-fibrous carbohydrates in the diets. Despite the change in nutrient availability, average daily gain (299 g/day), O 2 consumption (26.24 L/kg 0.75 BW), and CH 4 production (2.25 L/kg 0.75 BW) were not influenced by the SFM inclusion, indicating that changes in the nutritional value of the diet did not affect the animals’ energetic metabolism. Sunflower meal inclusion decreased the digestibility but did not affect the animal gain and the respirometric parameters. The SFM can replace soybean meal in the diet of growing lambs; however, it has a maximum inclusion point of 88 g SFM/kg for feed conversion, which is a necessary factor for evaluating the replacement cost. (SFM performance sheep Twentyfour Twenty males (BW 279160 27 91 6 0 27.91±6. kg 100 200 30 SFMkg Intake behavior opencircuit open circuit chamber 9056 90 56 90.5 gkg 075 75 0.7 9 nonfibrous non byproduct availability 299 (29 g/day, gday g/day , day g/day) 26.24 2624 26 24 (26.2 Lkg L BW, 2.25 225 25 (2.2 animals metabolism lambs however 8 conversion cost 27916 27.91±6 10 20 3 905 90. 07 7 0. 29 (2 26.2 262 (26. 2.2 22 (2. 2791 27.91± 1 ( 26. (26 2. 279 27.91 27.9 27.

ABSTRACT. The objective of this work was to evaluate the performance, body morphometric measurements and testicular development in lambs fed with different rates of sunflower meal inclusion. The animals (24) were randomly distributed in treatments with 0, 10, 20 and 30% of sunflower meal in the dry matter of the diet, in six replicates, during 56 days of confinement. The addition of the coproduct at increasing dietary rates increased linearly the dry matter intake in the percentage of live weight and neutral detergent fiber. Despite this, there was a linear reduction in ether extract intake and chest width. On the other hand, there was no difference in daily, total and final weight gains. The body condition score; height of withers, croup and thorax; length of body and croup; width of fore croup, hind croup and chest; thoracic and neck diameters also did not change with the addition of the coproduct. The testicular measures 26.76; 6.11; 6.08; 5.22; 5.21; 4.80, and 4.81cm varied quadratically with the inclusion. Therefore, the inclusion of 30% of the coproduct changes nutrient intake and testicular biometry, but does not interfere in the body weight and development, being an economical alternative.