This work was developed to evaluate intake, apparent digestibility of nutrients and the effect of time (days) of total collection (two and four days) in apparent digestibility estimate in goats fed diets containing sugar cane treated with calcium oxide (CaO). Eight castrated male Saanen breed goats, at 22.6 kg average body weight and at four months of age were used, distributed in two 4 × 4 Latin squares, with four 14-day experimental periods. The diets were formulated to be isoprotein with 14% crude protein (CP) and they were composed of 70% sugar cane treated with 0; 0.75; 1.5 or 2.25% CaO (in natural matter basis) corrected with 1% urea and 30% concentrate. The variables related with the intake in animals fed sugar cane treated with calcium oxide were higher than those fed in natura sugar cane. Overall, nutrient intake increased with doses of calcium oxide added to sugar cane. Coefficients of digestibility of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP) and non-fibrous carbohydrate corrected for ash and protein (NFCap) were lower in the groups fed sugar cane treated with calcium oxide in relation to in natura sugar cane. It was verified linear reduction of coefficient of digestibility of NDF and quadratic effect of hydrolyses of sugar cane with calcium oxide on digestibility of ether extract (EE) and NFCap. Use of calcium oxide in sugar cane treatment increase intake but it does not improve nutrient digestibility. Two days of total fecal collection are sufficient to estimate the total apparent digestibility in goats.
calcium oxide; chemical treatment; hydrolyzed cane; roughage
