Viabilidade técnica e econômica do uso de diferentes níveis de grãos secos de destilaria com solúveis (Zea Mays L.) em borregas terminadas em confinamento

It was evaluated the feasibility of using animal feed containing different levels of distiller´s dried grains with solubles - DDGS (0, 8, 16 and 24%) in confined ewe lambs . The feed contained 65% of roughage (corn silage) and 35% of concentrate (milled corn grain, soybean meal, distiller´s dried grains with solubles and urea). Sixteen lambs were used , from no specific breed, with initial body weight (BW) of 23.8 ± 1.5 kg, confined for 75 days. A completely randomized design with four treatments were usedThe average DM intake and daily gain (ADG) data of lambs fed the different treatments were submitted to analysis of variance and the differences obtained were analyzed by a regression equation at 5% of significance. The different DDGS levels did not change the ADG of the lambs in confinement. Based on the economic technical simulation, the difference obtained in the value of the total income per carcass of ewe lambs was US$ 6.93 more for feed with 16% of DDGS in relation to the feed with 0% of DDGS. In addition, the 24% DDGS feed ration presented a value of US$ 1.46 in relation than the feed with 0% DDGS. It was verified that lambs fed the different levels of DDGS presented a revenue of US$ 4.63/kg of carcass, which resulted in a difference of US$ 692.82 in total revenue between the feed containing 16% and 0% of DDGS for a 100 animal module. This difference in the value of total income was a consequence of the higher carcass weight of 11.4% for the 16% DDGS feed in comparison to 0% DDGS. The feed with 16% of DDGS presented a cost of US$ 0.38/kg lower than the feed with 0% of DDGS. In addition, the 16% DDGS in feed had a total net revenue of 98.7% higher than the 0% DDGS feed. The distiller´s dried grains with solubles can be inserted into the finishing lamb diet in up to 24% of the total feed without altering the animal performance, and when considering the economic simulation the use of 16% inclusion of DDGS presents greater profitability.