It was evaluated the values of apparent metabolizable and apparent corrected energy (AME and AMEn, respectively), the coefficients of metabolization of gross energy (MCEC and MCECn) and the digestibility of DM and OM (ADDMC and ADOMC) of some feedstuffs for greater rhea averaging seven months old, by the techniques of total feces collection and chromium oxide as external marker. The experiment was analyzed as a complete randomized design with six treatments and three replications per experiment. The experiment was carried out three times senquentially. The values of ADDMC, ADOMC, AME, AMEn, MCEC and MCECn of feedstuffs determined by total feces collection were greater than those determined with chromium oxide. The use of marker was not efficient to determine ADDMC, ADOMC, AME, AMEn, MCEC and MCECn of the feedstuffs for greater rhea when compared to total feces collection method. It is recommended more studies of indirect techniques to estimate the digestibility parameters in similar assays.
chromium oxide; metabolizable energy; nutrition; Rhea Americana; total collection; wild animal
