Nutritive value of diets containing pods of faveira (Parkia platycephala Benth.) for confined finishing sheep

Performance and apparent digestibility were evaluated in sheep fed diets containing different amounts of faveira (Parkia platycephala) pods in replace to corn. Twenty crossbred Santa Inês lambs of approximately four months of age and average 21 kg were kept in individual stalls in randomized blocks and distributed according to weight. The following characteristics were evaluated: average daily gain, feed conversion and voluntary intake of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), total carbohydrates (TCH), non-fibrous carbohydrates (NFC); and apparent digestibility of DM, OM, CP, NDF, ADF, TCH, NFC and total digestible nutrients (TDN). P. platycephala pods inclusion in the diets promoted no significant difference in the intakes of dry matter, organic matter, total carbohydrate and total digestible nutrients and also sheep performance. There was no treatment effect in the digestibility of organic matter, crude protein, fatty acids, neutral detergent fiber or total digestible nutrients. There was no effect of treatment for organic matter digestibility, crude protein, fatty acids, neutral detergent fiber or total digestible nutrients. The inclusion of up to 75% of faveira pods in substitution to corn grains in diets for finishing animals does not influence weight gain or feed conversion, although the replacement of more than 50% compromises the digestibility of dry matter.