Resumen de Reduction of tannin level in a tropical legume (Desmodium ovalifolium) with polyethylene glycol (PEG): effects on intake and N balance, digestion and absorption by sheep
Juan Evangelista Carulla Fornaguera, Carlos E. Lascano, T. J. Klopfenstein
Three feeding trials were conducted to determine the effect of reducing the concentration of condensed tannins (CT) in Desmodium ovalifolium Wallick ex Gagnep (CIAT 350) on voluntary feed intake, N digestion, absorption and balance in sheep. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) was used as a tannin-binding agent to reduce extractable CT. In Trial 1, 12 growing lambs were assigned at random to one of four treatments: ad libitum feeding of Centrosema macrocarpum Bentham (CIAT 5713), C. macrocarpum plus PEG (50 g kg-1 DM), D. ovalifolium, or D. ovalifolium plus PEG (50 g kg-1 of DM). Extractable CT values were 46 and 17 g kg-1 for D. ovalifolium and D. ovalifolium plus PEG, respectively. Forage of C. macrocarpum contained 1.7 g kg-1 extractable CT and was not affected by PEG addition. Voluntary DM intake did not differ (P > 0.05) between C. macrocarpum treatments, but was higher (P
