Effect of replacing babassu oil with sunflower oil on nutrient utilization, rumen fermentation, and biohydrogenation estimate in sheep

This study evaluated the effects of the association of babassu oil (BAO) and sunflower oil (SO) in different proportion might modulates rumen biohydrogenation (RBH) without adverse effects on nutrient utilization and ruminal fermentation. Thirty-five lambs (18 ± 3.9 kg of initial body weight and 122 ± 10 days of initial age) were distributed into five dietary treatments (as dry matter-DM basis): control diet (CON) with a 30:70 of forage to concentrate ratio, control diet supplemented with 45 g/kg of BAO (0SO), control diet supplemented with 30 g/kg of BAO + 15 g/kg of SO (15SO), control diet supplemented with 22.5 g/kg of BAO + 22.5 g/kg of SO blend (22SO), and control diet supplemented with 30 g/kg of BAO + 15 g/kg of SO blend (30SO). After 50 days in feedlot, sheep were slaughtered and a representative sample of abomasal content was collected, for fatty acid (FA) determination. BAO supplementation reduced feed intake (P < 0.05) and protozoa count, but did not change (P > 0.05) the nutrient digestibility. The dietary SO blend addition had a quadratic effect (P < 0.05) on nutrient intake and protozoa count, without change nutrient digestibility. Lipid supplementation slighly modified rumen fermentation. However, BAO reduced (P <0.001) the sum of branched-chain FAs (BCFA) compared to CONT and slighly increased the sum of cis-MUFA (P = 0.004) in abomasal content, while SO blend exerts a quadratic effect on c9,t11-CLA (P = 0.005) and 18:3n-3 RBH (P < 0.001). Feeding SO blend in combination with BAO had a minimum effect on nutrient digestibility and rumen fermentation. However, the addition up to 22.5 g/kg of sunflower oil blend modulated 18:3n-3 RBH, and increased the concentration of rumenic acid (c9,t11-CLA) and branched-chain fatty acid, which could improve the nutritional value of meat.