Author/Authors :
Ahmed-Salek, S. Department of Animal Science - University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Arucas, Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain , Jaber, J.R. Department of Animal Science - University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Arucas, Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain , Navarro, V. Department of Animal Science - University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Arucas, Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain , Gutiérrez, C. Department of Animal Science - University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Arucas, Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain , Ventura, M.R. Department of Animal Science - University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Arucas, Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain
Abstract :
The use of alternative feeds for animal nutrition has widely been recommended in the last years. Banana (Musa acuminate) is a predominant culture in many tropical and subtropical regions of the world with an estimated world production of 116 million tons. Banana by-products could be used as alternative feeds for ruminant nutrition. The present study assessed the effects of replacing ryegrass hay with banana by-products on carcass characteristic and composition in Canary hair sheep lambs. The animals (N=22, weighted 14.8±0.5 kg body weight (BW)) were divided into 2 groups receiving a mixture of fresh banana by-products and commercial ryegrass hay, respectively. A commercial concentrate feed was also added to both groups. After a 58-day trial, 14 animals (n=14) were slaughter at weights of 25.0 ± 0.6 kg BW. Carcass weight, dressing weight, composition and tissue weight were not significantly different for both groups, except for the weights of the empty digestive tracts (P=0.001) and livers (P=0.002). The results confirm that banana by-products could be used as alternative forage source for Canary hair sheep lambs raised in sub-tropical conditions.
Keywords :
banana by‐product , Canary hair sheep breed , carcass quality , Pelibuey sheep
