Effects of increasing doses of wood vinegar on feed intake, digestibility, ingestive behavior, nitrogen balance and serum biochemistry in sheep

Abstract

The objective was to evaluate the effects of increasing doses (0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 mL/day) of eucalyptus wood vinegar (EWV) on intake, apparent digestibility, water balance, nitrogen balance, ruminal parameters, serum biochemistry, and ingestive behavior of sheep fed a high-concentrate diet. Five castrated male Santa Inês sheep, with an average age of 35 months and an initial body weight of 55.8 ± 9.0 kg, were used in a 5 × 5 Latin square design. The experimental period lasted a total of 100 days, distributed across five consecutive 20-day periods. In each period, 14 days were allocated for adaptation and six days for data collection. Increasing EWV levels increased (P < 0.05) the intake of dry matter (DMI), organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP), non-fibrous carbohydrates (NFC), and total digestible nutrients (TDN), but no effect (P > 0.05) was observed on the apparent digestibility of DM (81.97%), OM (83.92%), CP (81.98%), NFC (92.44%), and NDF (43.34%) in the sheep diet. There was no effect (P > 0.05) of increasing EWV doses on feeding (163 min/day) and rumination (310 min/day) times, pH values (6.86), water balance (48.29%), or ruminal N—NH3 (9.84 mg/dL) concentrations in sheep. Increasing EWV doses increased (P < 0.05) nitrogen (N) intake and the amounts of N absorbed and retained by the animals. A decrease (P < 0.05) in serum lactate levels was observed with increasing EWV doses supplied to the animals. A dose of up to 20 mL/day of EWV is recommended for sheep fed high-concentrate diets.