Digestibility of extruded raw materials of vegetal origin (corn, degerminated corn, sorghum, and brewer's rice) was evaluated in this experiment. Eight similar male dogs from AMERICAN FOXHOUND breed had been selected, at the ages of three years old and average weight of 32,0 kg + 2,4 kg. Each treatment, from a total of four, was offered to two dogs, during four periods, in a total of eight dogs per treatment. Dry matter, crude fiber, acid-hydrolyzed fat, crude protein, ash, non-nitrogen extract and gross energy were analyzed in the samples of feed and excrements (feces). It was used a double Latin square design (four treatments, four periods and eight dogs) totalizing 32 experimental units, and the averages of digestibility coefficient of some nutrients , SNK procedures was used to identify differences among treatments means. Results for degerminated corn was: dry matter apparent digestibility coefficient (DMADC) = 67,82%; organic matter (OMADC) = 71,60%; crude protein (CPADC) = 69,95%; acid-hydrolyzed fat (AHFADC) = 79,52%. These results show that the degerminated corn has a low nutritional value when compared to whole grain corn (DMADC, 82,28); (OMADC, 87,19); (CPADC, 73,28); (AHFADC, 88,72), sorghum (DMADC, 86,43); (OMADC, 87,48); (CPADC, 71,01); (AHFADC, 86,88) and brewer's rice (DMADC, 95,00); (OMADC, 95,62); (CPADC, 82,57); (AHFADC, 92,66). There were no significant difference (P>0,05) between whole grain corn and sorghum. Brewer's rice showed the highest digestibility coefficient of the nutrients amongst the evaluated ingredients. The results found in this experiment demonstrate that different sources of carbohydrates, such as corn and sorghum may be equivalent used in the nutrition of dogs. Degerminated corn should be used with caution due to its lowest nutritional profile amongst the evaluated cereals, also should be better evaluated for products with the objective to the energy reduction.
Digestibility; corn; degerminated corn; sorghum; brewer's rice
