This work was carried-out to study the effect of substitution levels of corn (COR) by cassava by-product flour (CPF) (25, 50, 75 and 100%) in the ration for sheep on voluntary intake, nutrients apparent digestibility and nitrogen (NB) and energy (EB) balance, pH and ammonia concentration (N-NH3) in ruminal liquid. Four male, castrated sheep, without defined race, with medium weight of 41.4 AW, in trial of digestibility were used, using the method of total collect feces and urine. The animals were kept in cages of metabolism in 4x4 latin square design. The ruminal liquid was obtained by means of probe esofagic in the times 0, 2, 4, 6 and 8 hours (after feeding). There was no effect of substitution levels on intake of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), energy and nitrogen (N) and for apparent digestibility of DM, OM, CP, NDF, starch and gross energy (GE) and for NB and TDN levels. The intake of starch and GE presented quadratic increase until the level of 75% CPM in the ration. The concentration of the ammonia nitrogen and the pH of ruminal liquid did not differ in function of the substitution levels of the COR to CPM. It was concluded that CPM can totally substitute COR in the sheep ration.
cassava by-product flour; corn; digestibility; intake; nitrogen balance; sheep
