Açaí bundle in the feeding of horses
Food; behavior; digestibility; equines; by-product.
In the production systems, food is one of the factors that most costs, and it is necessary to adopt food strategies, such as the use of by-products in the animals' diet. In this sense, the açaí stone (Euterpe oleracea Mart) can be an interesting alternative, since it has great availability, low or no acquisition cost, ease of storage and supply, besides having a bromatological composition compatible with bulky food. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the partial replacement of the Molaça forage (Panicum maximum) by the açaí stone ground in equine diets, under the intake and digestibility of dry matter and nutrients and ingestive behavior of mares. There will be used five mares with no defined racial pattern, with average age of six years old, and initial average weight of 316 kg, confined in individual bays. The experimental design used will be the Latin square of the order of 5 x 5, being five treatments, five periods and five repetitions. The treatments will be constituted by five experimental diets, using a concentrated voluminous ratio of 80:20. The experimental treatments will be constituted by substitution levels of the Mombasa grass by crushed açaí stone (0, 15, 30, 45 and 60% of the dry matter). The experiment will be divided into five periods with a duration of 15 days each, being the first nine to adapt the animals and the others to collect feces, urine, blood and behavioral data.