http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/919511288

Supplementation of alfalfa hay and ensilage to increase live weight in male Ancuta Llamas

The present research work was done at the Agricultural Experimental Center in Codoriri, located 49 km from the city of Oruro and 12 km from the city of Caracollo. It belongs to the Faculty of Agriculture at the Technical University of Oruro. The study was 90 days long from October 15, 1997 to January 13, 1998. The main objective was to determine live weight gain through alfafa hay and ensilage supplement. The collection of food supplies was done during the month of March and April, preparing the ensilage at the same time. The hay was grounded at a later time. Thirty male ancuta llamas were used in the study. Ten were used for alfalfa hay supplementation, ten for ensilage supplementation, and 10 were used as controls without supplementation. The supplementation rations were offered after the animals grazed, for which 3 corrals were used. A random block design was used with three treatments, each one consisting of 10 repetitions, two of which are supplemental and one is a control. The data was analyzed through variance analysis according to a SAS program. The following statistics were taken: monthly live weight, weight of offered food, weight of refused food, body weight, meat yield, weight of cut parts. According tot he variance analysis done on the statistical analysis, there were highly significant differences between treatments in live weight increases. TA obtained an average increase of 12.5 kn, TB increased 11.5 kg, and finally TC increased 8.35 kg. The highest consumption was recorded for the TA supplement of 847 g/llama/day, followed by TB with 731 g/llama/day. These numbers are averages obtained from the entire study. With respect to body yield, we obtained the following results: TA 54.78%, TB 53.76% and TC 51.14%. From the economic analysis we learn that the TA (ensilage) treatment had the best total cost benefit/llama of 26.48 Bs. Followed by TB (hay) with 31.76 Bs/llama, thus justifying the supplementation. The TA was the most beneficial in terms of body weight gain, but economically has the least benefit.

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