SUGAR CANE TOPS (Saccharum officinarum) IN THE FINALIZATION OF PELIBUEY SHEEP DURING THE DRY SEASON IN THE TROPICS

Abstract

The objective was to evaluate the use of sugar cane tops as fodder in sheep finishing diets during the dry season in the tropics. The experiment was conducted at the Instituto Tecnologico de Ciudad Valles, S.L.P., Mexico. Thirty six male sheep with average weight of 20 kg were used. The sheep were given one out of three whole diets prepared with, commercial with sorghum byproducts (CBS), with dry ground green sugar cane tops (GST) and with dry ground burnt sugar cane tops (BST). The evaluated variables were feed intake (FI), daily weight gain (DWG) and feed conversion (FC). The average of the FI, DWG and FC were 1.103 kg, 203 g and 5.48, respectively. Diets showed significant differences (P < 0.05) in DWG and FC. The best results were for the feed prepared with commercial with sorghum byproducts.