Considerations on alternative feeding for bovine animals

In Venezuela, livestock farming constitutes an important part of the productive apparatus, determined by its high contribution to the Agricultural Gross Domestic Product, as well as its contribution to the well-being of Venezuelan society is highlighted, by producing milk and meats, indispensable products in the daily diet of the Venezuelan. In that sense, to raise ruminants in the tropics they obtain their greatest source of food resources from pastures and /or forages whose quality depends on the management, soil quality and local climatic conditions, if all these elements are properly combined the pastures become an abundant and economic source for feeding ruminants.

Although pastures can be an abundant and cheap source of food as mentioned in the previous paragraph, if they are not managed efficiently, they can become a nutritional constraint, referring to the low energy intake, with high fiber values, low digestibility and often with serious protein and mineral deficiencies; according to Ruiz and Vázquez (1983), this can cause low levels of production, since the productivity of grazing animals is basically determined by daily energy consumption.

These problems of performance and nutritional quality that may exist in pastures directly influence the metabolic events that facilitate the transformation of the young animal into an adult state. However, the limitation in the supply of essential nutrients to animals is reflected in a generalized alteration of body functions, the effects of which at an early age involve a delay in weight gain. In our southern area of Lake Maracaibo Venezuela, in humid conditions, there is an abundance of native legumes, good soil fertility and appropriate soil moisture conditions, most of the year, the factor that limits animal production is energy and not protein.

For this reason, one strategy that could correct these nutritional deficiencies is through the supply of commercially manufactured concentrated balanced foods or food supplements made on the farms themselves. The main limitation in the use of commercial balanced foods is their high cost and availability in the market, whereas food supplements with local resources are economical depending on the raw materials used.

This is how, among the alternatives used in the tropics, banana and palm nepe stand out for the formulation of these supplements, which are raw materials that can be obtained in the tropics, with this we are looking for food alternatives of reduced cost for the producer but that increase their productive and reproductive levels in their production unit. The use of these resources will make it possible to publicize the relevance of strategic supplementation in the agricultural field since it would serve as a reference for livestock producers who usually show interest in applying methods that represent profitable alternatives from the economic point of view.

It can also show small and medium-sized producers and even professionals and students of careers related to agriculture, how options such as bananas and palm nepe can contribute, among other things, to increasing the individual weight gain of animals and increasing the animal load to make herd production more efficient, emphasizing that they are raw materials that can be found in agricultural areas.

Dear readers, regarding the supplementation with the banana and nepe category, some researchers such as González and García (2007), mentioned that the banana and the palm nepe can improve the growth in their daily weight gain (GDP), improve the conversion of Kg of food per Kg of animal weight and reach the physiological maturity of the mautas and consequently, in the age and weight to appropriate to reach puberty and be suitable to reproduce in order to determine the profitability of the system.