Efectos de la suplementación con bloques multinutricionales a base de nopal fermentado sobre la ganancia de peso de ovinos en crecimiento

Abstract

This paper presents a practical alternative use for the prickly pear cactus as a principalcomponent in the elaboration of multi-nutritional blocks (BMs) used to feed growing sheep.Sorghum, soy bean, urea minerals, and natural yogurt were added to the cactus, the mixturewas fermented for two weeks at room temperature, and then the BMs were made consisting25 % of the fermented mixture. Twenty weaned sheep with an average weight of 17 kg wererandomly assigned to one of two groups (with or without BMs), and both were fed a typicaldiet for growing sheep. Feed intake, BM intake, and body weight were registered overa 57 day period. Body weight was analyzed statistically through ANOVA in a completelyrandomized design. No statistically significant differences were observed in body weight.BMs made with fermented prickly pear cactus were adequately consumed by the sheep.