The objective of this trial was to evaluate the effect of monensin in the apparent digestibility of nutrients in diets with different levels of CP. Twenty-five castrated rams were housed in metabolism cages for 20 days and fed diets with 11.4 or 16.5% of CP (% DM) supplemented or not with 28 mg of monensin/kg of DM. Diets contained 65% of signalgrass hay (Brachiaria decumbens) and 35% of concentrate; a diet containing only signal grass hay was also fed. The concentrate of diets with 11.4% CP was composed by corn and urea while that of diets with 16.5% CP was based on corn and soybean meal. A completely randomized block design was used and treatment differences were separated by complete orthogonal contrasts. Although monensin significantly reduced the intakes of DM, OM, CP, EE, TC, NDF and TDN, no differences were observed for apparent digestibility of nutrients. Monensin also reduced fecal excretion of N but the greatest N retention was observed in animals fed diets with no supplementation. Diets with the highest CP levels also had the highest CP intake while those with the lowest CP levels showed greatest intakes of EE and TC. Dietary CP level had no significant effect on nutrient digestibility with the exception of CP and EE, which were higher on animals fed diets with high and low CP contents, respectively. The diet containing only signalgrass hay resulted in the lowest intake and digestibility of nutrients and also led to a negative N balance.
ionophore; metabolism cage; ram; ruminant
