Cottonseed cake in substitution of soybean meal in diets for finishing lambs

• The cottonseed cake levels in substitution of soybean meal also did not affect final body weight, daily weight gain and total weight gain of the lambs.
• Cottonseed cake can replace up to 100% of soybean meal in the concentrate.
• Cottonseed cake is an important food alternative to substitute soybean meal.

The objective of this study was to evaluate nutrient intake, diet digestibility, performance and carcass characteristics of Santa Inês crossbred lambs fed diets cottonseed cake in substitution of soybean meal. Forty Santa Inês × Dorper crossbred noncastrated rams with average initial weight of 20.9 ± 2.5 kg were distributed in a completely randomized design with four treatments and ten replicates. The diets were composed of Tifton 85 (Cyndon dactylon cv. Tifton-85) hay as roughage and cottonseed cake replacing 0, 33, 66 and 100% of soybean meal, in a roughage-to-concentrate ratio of 50:50. At the end of the experiment, the lambs were slaughtered and their carcasses were evaluated. Except for crude protein and ether extract, overall, the digestibility coefficients of the nutrients decreased linearly (P < 0.05) as the levels of cottonseed cake in the diets were elevated. The cottonseed cake levels in substitution of soybean meal also did not affect final body weight, daily weight gain and total weight gain of the lambs (P > 0.05). The qualitative and quantitative carcass characteristics did not differ (P > 0.05) among the levels of cottonseed cake in substitution of soybean meal. Although the hot and cold carcass yields decreased (P < 0.05) as the cottonseed cake increased its participation in the diet, these variables remained within the levels considered satisfactory. Cottonseed cake can replace up to 100% of soybean meal in the concentrate, which corresponds to 12% of the total diet for lambs, representing an important food alternative to substitute soybean meal.