The experiment was developed at Instituto de Zootecnia in São José do Rio Preto, SP, and the objective was to evaluate the digestibility coefficients, the nutrients intake, and the nitrogen balance of diets with 20% of corn silage and 80% of concentrate and 0, 25, 40 and 55% of citrus pulp in total dry matter, replacing corn grain. Eight crossbred lambs, with nine months of age and 34 kg of liveweight, were fed in individual cages, where feces and urine could be separated. During six days, feed, orts, feces and urine were weighed and sampled. The amount of feed offered was the mean of the intake in the last three days of the adaptation period. The experiment consisted of two phases, using the same animals, which were blocked by liveweight. Data were analyzed by regression. There was linear increase in the apparent digestibility coefficients of the crude protein and of the acid detergent fiber with higher levels of citrus pulp. The digestibility coefficients did not differ and means were, respectively: 71.8, 73.3, 77.2, 63.5, and 72.2%, for dry matter, organic matter, ether extract, neutral detergent fiber and hemicellulose. The total digestible nutrients mean was 72.39%. Increasing citrus pulp in the diet caused a linear and significant increase of dry matter and total digestible nutrients intake by day and by metabolic weight. Similar effects were observed for the amount of ingested, absorbed, urinary and retained nitrogen. An increasing proportion of citrus pulp up to 55% of the dietary dry matter, replacing corn grain, resulted in improvement of the fiber utilization and of the efficiency of nitrogen metabolism.
corn silage; intake; pectin; total digestible nutrients
