SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the economic viability of the inclusion of urea in the ration provided to feedlot lambs. Twenty-four non-castrated male lambs, crossbred Dorper, with 2-5 months of age and a body weight (BW) of 25.0 ± 4.3 kg were used. A completely randomized design with four treatments and six replicates was adopted, in which the treatments were urea levels of 0.0, 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5% in the ration, on a dry matter (DM) basis. Lambs were fed ad libitum for 56 days and slaughtered at a BW of37.9 ± 5.1 kg. The analyzed economic indexes were the cost of the rations, cost of marginal factor (CMF), revenue of marginal factor (RMF), net revenue (NR) and benefit: cost ratio (BCR). The ration without urea presented the highest cost (0.30 US$/kg DM) and the ration with 1.0% DM of urea had the lowest cost (0.23 US$/kg DM). The CMF had a quadratic response to the urea level, reaching the lowest value (0.28 US$/day) with the addition of 0.9 to 1.0% DM of urea. The lowest and the highest NR values were obtained from the rations without and with 1.5% DM of urea, respectively (0.26 and 0.34 US$/day). The ration without urea had a worse BCR (1.74), whereas the ration with 1.0% DM of urea resulted in a better BCR (2.09). A better economic return for lambs finishing in feedlots is obtained with rations containing 1.0 to 1.5% DM of urea.
Keywords:
benefit: cost ratio; concentrate feed; economic return; net revenue; nonprotein nitrogen
