BEHAVIORAL VARIABLES OF FEEDLOT SHEEP FED DIETS WITH BEAN RESIDUE

The experiment was conducted in order to evaluate the effect of inclusion of bean residue to replace cottonseed meal in diets for feedlot sheep. 16 sheep males mongrel were used, with 12 months of age and weighing 30 kg. The animals were distributed in a completely randomized design with four treatments and four replications. The treatments consisted of the replacement of cottonseed meal by bean residue at 0, 11, 22 and 33% of dry matter (DM) of the diets. The diets were isonitrogenous with 16% crude protein (CP), comprise 45% of forage (corn silage) and 55% concentrate in the dry matter. The time spent eating were recorded, idling time of the animals by visual observation of the animals every 10 minutes over a period of 24 hours. Regardless of the treatments the power peaks are arranged in the early morning hours of 07h corresponding 9am: 50min and in the late afternoon around 16h to 18h: 50min after the intake of the animals peaks distributed its activities in idling time . A statistically significant difference (P<0.05) for the night-time intake compared to day time intake independent of the level of inclusion of residue in the bean diet. The rumination time had a significant effect (P<0.05) between the observation periods, with average time of 5.85 h/day for night rumination and 4.05 h/day for day rumination, while the time leisure showed no significant difference (P>0.05) between the periods. Sheep grazed under confinement system have daytime feeding habits and use most of the night period to ruminate and rest