AVALIA O BIOECON MICA DO USO DA TORTA DE DENDê NA ALIMENTA O DE VACAS LEITEIRAS

This work was carried out with the purpose of evaluating the bioeconomic effect of the inclusion of palm kernel cake (PKC) to the diet of dairy cows (0.0, 11.34, 22.78 and 34.17%). We evaluated the milk production expressed in kg/day (MP) and in percentage of body weight (MP%BW), feed efficiency (FE), the contents of protein, fat, fat:protein ratio, lactose, total solids (TS ), defatted dry extract (DDE) and milk urea nitrogen (MUN). A linear decreasing effect was observed on the MP and MP%BW with the inclusion of PKC. The FE increased linearly (0.008 points) with the inclusion of palm kernel cake. There was a linear reduction in protein and DDE contents. As for fat, lactose and TS contents, fat: protein ratio and MP corrected for 4% of fat expressed in % of BW there was no effect of the inclusion of PKC. There was a linear increasing effect of the inclusion of PKC to the diets on the levels of MUN. The inclusion of PKC to the diet of dairy cows implies in reduction of milk production, although it does not compromise its composition. The use of PKC should be made with reservation because it compromises milk production and body condition of the animal.