Liquid residue of cassava as a replacement for corn in the diets of sheep

The effect of the replacement of corn with the liquid residue of cassava was evaluated at levels of 0, 25, 50, 75, and 100 % in the diets of sheep on the intake and nutrient digestibility, weight gain, and carcass characteristics. Forty non-castrated crossbred Santa Ines sheep at 4 months of age and an initial body weight of 19.5 ± 2.5 kg were slaughtered after 90 days at the feedlot. A quadratic effect was found for intake of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), non-fiber carbohydrates (NFC), and digestible OM, with estimated values of 1130, 1080, 558, and 777 g/day at 11.2, 11.9, 30.8, and 2.18 % of replacing corn with liquid residue of cassava, respectively. However, the intake of crude protein (CP) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) decreased linearly around 105 to 45.3 g CP/day and 413 to 284 g NDF/day. The same effect was found for digestibility of DM (715 to 649 g/kg), OM (725 to 669 g/kg), CP (801 to 759 g/kg), and NDF (486 to 379 g/kg), which decreased linearly as the dietary liquid residue of cassava increased. The maximum average daily gain (174 g/day) was estimated with a 22.4 % replacement level. Liquid residue of cassava can replace up to 25 % of the corn in the diets of sheep, since it was possible to obtain a gain above 100 g/day, which is considered to be satisfactory.