Itavo et al., 2002. Rev. Bras. Zootec., 31 (2 suppl.): 1024-1032

It was aimed to evaluate intake, apparent digestibility and in situ degradability of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) of coastcross and Tifton 85' bermudagrass hays, and of diets with four concentrate levels for growing animals. The fecal production was estimated by means of internal markers, indigestible neutral detergent fiber (NDFi) and acid detergent fiber (ADFi), obtained after 144 hours of ruminal incubation. It were used eight months old bovines and 32 non castrated animals in the growing phase, all Nellore, to evaluate intake and digestibility. Three-fistulated rumen bovines were used to study the disappearance of the dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) of the hays. The incubation times were 6, 12, 24, 48, 72, 96, 120 and 144 hours. The nutrient intakes of coastcross hay were smaller than Tifton 85 values. The DM, NDF and ADF apparent digestibility of the hays did not differ between markers, although the markers did not present statistical difference to estimate the coefficient of digestibility of coastcross hay, though for Tifton 85 nutrient apparent digestibility there was difference presenting larger value for ADFi. In the growing phase, all coefficients of digestibility were smaller when NDFi was used as marker. The degradation rate did not differ among the hays, inside of each studied entity (DM, CP, and NDF).