The effect of the addition of 0.0, 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5% of urea to dehydrated vineyards residue, associated to forage cactus palm in the feeding of goats on intake and nutrient digestibility was evaluated. Twenty-four castrated crossbred goats, without defined breed, with average 18 kg of BW were distributed to a randomized block design according to the body weight. The addition of increasing levels of urea to dehydrated vineyards residue increased intakes of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF), in kg/day, %BW and g/kg BW0.75. There was a linear increase intake of total digestible nutrients (TDN), total carbohydrates (TC) and non-fiber carbohydrates (NFC), in % BW and g/kg BW0.75. There was no difference in the intakes of TDN, TC and NFC, in kg/day, with means of 0.363, 0.575 and 0.258, respectively. However, the addition of urea to the residue did not affect the coefficients of digestibility of DM, MO and NDF, with means of 48.13, 46.08 and 20.37% respectively. The digestibility coefficients NFC showed linear increase, while CP showed quadratic behavior, with maximum at 48.93%, with the addition of 1.3% of urea to the residue. Use of urea in the dehydrated vineyards residue linearly increased the intake of nutrients, however, the level of 1.3% is the most appropriate, since promotes better digestibility of the crude protein of the diets containing this alternative feed.
agrindustrial byproducts; cactus; goat production; non-protein nitrogen; semi-arid
