Abstract

The objective of the current study was to evaluate the preference of the consumption of four silage formulations, and their effect of the preferred silage on the ovarian activity of adult collared peccaries subjected to 35 days of ad libitum feed intake. In the first experiment, 12 adults non-pregnant Pecari tajacu females were used to which they were offered four silage mixtures, to measure the preference, through a 4 x 4 Latin square design. In the second experiment, five females were offered a diet with the most preferred silage, pumpkin, and corn, and five others consumed corn and squash. The blood progesterone levels of each female were measured weekly. The first experiment showed that the silage mixture with 55% of Brosimum alicastrum, 40% of Pennisetum purpureum and 5% of molasses was preferred (P <0.05). All the females in the group that consumed the diet with the preferred silage formulation and the corn-and-pumpkinbased diet showed one to two peaks of progesterone throughout the experiment. It is concluded that females submitted to diets with 40% silage of P. purpureum, 55% of B. alicastrum, 5% of molasses, corn, and pumpkin do not show alteration of the ovarian cyclicity during 35 days.

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