Parámetros digestivos en conejos de engorde alimentados con dietas basadas en follajes tropicales: Digestibilidad ileal

in vivo ileal nutrient digestibility of five tropical foliages was determined in 72 new zealand x california rabbits (45 days age) fed with diets containing 30 % of forage from either leucaena (leucaena leucocephala), trichanthera (trichanthera gigantea), mulberry (morus alba), peanut forage (arachis pintoi) or sweet potato (ipomoea batatas). a completely randomized experimental design was used with six treatments and 12 repetitions. the treatments were conformed by the control diet and those that contained the five test foliages. in vivo ileal nutrient digestibility indices were determined by an indirect method that uses acid-insoluble ash as inner marker. there was not significant effect of the treatment on the dry matter, ash and organic matter ileal digestibility. however, ileal digestibility of protein in the diet with leucaena was significantly lower (p≤0.01) than in the basal diet. in this index, the rest of diets containing the other four tropical forages showed intermediary values, ranging from 37.8% for trichanthera to 50.2 % for peanut forage. the dry matter, ash, organic matter and raw protein ileal digestibility of the evaluated forages were similar (p>0.05). the ileal digestibility determination in the diets and forages and the estimate of the caecal degradation, allowed to evidence that the proportion of cecal dry matter disappearance in leucaena and mulberry foliage was highest. the inclusion of leucaena, trichanthera, mulberry and peanut foliage did not cause substantial changes in ileal digestibility indexes in rabbits fed with those diets.