The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of supplementation on the productive response, ruminal pH and ammoniacal nitrogen, and production cost of sheep grazing marandu grass in the dry season. The experiment lasted 84 days. Twenty noncastrated lambs with average age and initial body weight of four months and 24.2 kg, respectively, were used for performance evaluation, and were distributed in the following treatments which are, mineral salt, energetic, multiple and proteic supplements, with five animals per treatment, in area of 0.1 ha. For nutritional parameters evaluation, four rumen fitted sheep with 12 months of age and 55 kg of weight were distributed in four paddocks of 0.1 ha. Mineral salt, energetic, multiple and proteic supplements were evaluated. Weight gains were 0.017, -0.008, 0.024 and 0.077 kg per day for mineral salt, energetic, proteic and multiple supplements, respectively. Four hours after supplementation, ruminal pH values were 6.30, 6.40, 6.18 and 6.24 for mineral salt, energetic, multiple and proteic supplements, respectively. Values for ammoniacal nitrogen in the rumen fluid were 10.57, 7.36, 21.58 and 24.50 mg dL-1 for mineral salt, energetic, multiple and proteic supplements, respectively. Mineral salt and proteic supplements produced weight gain with the lowest cost. The use of energetic supplement for lambs grazing lower protein content forage reduces weight gain.
palisade grass; weight gain; ruminal parameters; protein; profitability; supplementation
