Performance of lambs fed maize, soybean or maize-soybean intercrop silages

摘要

Our objective was to determine the performance of lambs fed diets based on silages from maize, soybean or maize-soybean intercropping. Twenty-four crossbred lambs (average initial BW = 22.7 kg) were housed in individual pens, blocked by sex and body weight (BW), and assigned to three dietary treatments: MS - diet containing 300 g kg~(-1) of maize silage produced in monoculture, SS - diet containing 320 g kg~(-1) DM of soybean silage produced in monoculture, and MSS - diet containing 310 g kg~(-1) DMof maize-soybean silage produced in intercropping. Diets were iso-nitrogenous (14% crude protein (CP)) and iso-forage-neutral detergent fibre (NDF) (16.5%). The DM intake (DMI), average daily gain (ADG) and feed efficiency (ADG/DMI) were 1,098,968 and 1,057 gday~(-1); 225,171 and 213 gday~(-1); and 0.204, 0.179 and 0.204 for MS, SS and MSS, respectively. Soybean silage produced in monoculture decreased the performance of finishing lambs. The use of silage from maize and soybean intercropping has the potential to be used without affecting intake and performance of the lambs.