Grasses and legumes are two groups of plants physic and
chemically different (amount of crude protein and fiber,
mostly), very used in animal feed, whose differences
can determine variation in intake, digestibility and
animal behavior. We aimed to evaluate performance,
feeding behavior and the serum biochemical profile of
sheep. The treatments were four levels of substitution
of Bermuda grass (
Cynodon dactylon [L.] Pers.) hay for
alfalfa (
Medicago sativa
L.) hay (0, 330, 660 and 1000
g kg
-1 DM). The randomized block design was used
being two blocks and four treatments with 10 replicates).
There were no effects on the performance of animals.
On the other hand, there was a positive linear effect (P
< 0.05) for intake of DM, organic matter, crude protein
(CP), total carbohydrates, and non-fibrous carbohydrates.
However, the use of neutral detergent fiber (NDF) showed
linear decrease with the increase in alfalfa hay (P <
0.05). CP and NDF decreased linearly (P < 0.05) with
the replacement of Bermuda grass hay for alfalfa hay.
There were decreasing linear effects (P < 0.05) when
compared to the time of ingestion and chewing of feed,
and increasing linear effects regarding total resting time.
Estimated passage rate, density of particles and blood
glucose showed a positive linear effect (P < 0.05), while
weight of gastrointestinal contents decreased according
to alfalfa levels (P < 0.05). The replacement of Bermuda
grass hay by alfalfa hay to promote improvement in the
performance is not recommended.
