Maniçoba for sheep and goats - forage yield, conservation strategies, animal performance and quality of products

ABSTRACT: In dry regions worldwide, providing feed for ruminants has been a great challenge, with a need to use plants which contribute to the resilience of production systems. Manicoba is seen as a potential forage resource in the Brazilian semiarid, being used as hay or silage to feed ruminants. This review summarized results regarding forage production of manicoba, in addition to dry matter (DM) intake, productive performance, and quality of animal products obtained providing manicoba based diets, when compared to diets composed by other roughages for goats and sheep. Considering the evaluated studies, the average yield of manicoba varied from 367 to 1,592 kg DM ha-1, enhancing the forage yield by increasing plant fertilization and planting density. Diets based on manicoba promoted similar or higher intake of DM and productive performance for goats and sheep, when compared to diets comprising other forage resources. The quality of animal products was also similar to the ones obtained with diets based on traditional roughages, such as Tifton 85 hay or spineless cactus. Therefore, manicoba allows a forage production that may contribute to ruminant production systems in semiarid environment and promote productive performance and animal product quality compatible to the ones provided by traditional forage plants.