Resumo

ESPINOZA MORILLO, F et al. Use of leucaena meal (Leucaena leucocephala) on the post-weaning lamb feeding during dry season. Rev. Fac. Agron. [online]. 2005, vol.22, n.1, pp.42-53. ISSN 0378-7818.

With the aim of evaluating the lambs performance on dry seasons and feeding with Leucaena leucocephala (LM), a trial was carried out in CENIAP experimental area, in Maracay, Aragua state, Venezuela. The treatments were: T1: hay + concentrated food (CF), T2: hay + 50% CF + 50% LM, T3: hay + LM. Seven lambs by treatments were used with an initial average weight 15.2 Kg and supply with hay by 5% of their live weight (LW) and 200 g/animal/day of supplementary food. The studied variables were: protein (PC), calcium and phosphorous of the diet, hay consumption and total dry matter, daily weight gain (DWG), food conversion and conversion efficiency (CE). The used design was randomized. The diet content of PC (P<0.01) was between 3.6 and 21.7% for hay and CF, respectively. The hay consumption for the three treatments were between 292 and 583 g/lamb/day, which was 2.6% of the LW, without significance between treatments. There were not significant differences (P>0.05) for DWG and CE and the final daily gain was 48, 32 and 43 g/lamb/day for T1, T2 and T3, respectively. The conclusion is that LM may be a substitute for CF when the lambs are fed with a low quality forage at dry seasons.

Palavras-chave : Leucaena flour; lambs; daily weight increase; consumption; conversion efficiency.