The objective of this work was to study the effects of different cocoa meal and palm cake levels (0, 15 and 30%) in substitution to corn and soybean meal, on the ingestive behavior of five non-pregnant lactating Saanen goats, with initial body weight of 41.6 kg. Animals were housed in individual barns during five experimental periods and were distribuided in a 5x5 latin square desing. Each animal was observed in each treatment, at the end of the experimental period, during 24 hours, with 10 minutes intervals. The roughage used was corn silage in 40:60 roughage:concentrate proportion. There was no difference in the feeding, ruminating and idle times. Although animals receiving 30% cocoa meal showed a reduction in dry matter intake, the feeding efficiency, in g of DM/h and g of NDF/h, was similar in all treatments. Rumination efficiency, in g of DM/h and g of NDF/h, and DM and grams of DM of NDF/ruminated boli were decreased by 30% cocoa meal. The total chewing time (h/day), the number of ruminated (boli/day), the ruminating chews (no/day and no/boli) and the time of ruminating chews boli (sec/boli) did not show any significant difference. The cocoa meal or palm cake inclusion in the diet influenced some ingestive behavior parameters.
feeding; idle; rumination; byproducts
