Protein enrichment of nopal, an option for the beef cattle production chain in Villa Guerrero, Jalisco

Abstract

Bovine livestock in northern Jalisco represents an important sector for the local economy due to the low prevalence of tuberculosis, representing an opportunity for commercial exchange with the United States. Within the region, there is Villa Guerrero, a municipality characterized by its productivity. However, due to climate change, ranchers have had to change management practices and use protein supplements produced in other places during the dry season. As a result, production costs have increased, so this work aimed to implement practices that contribute to the production of food with a good source of protein, so tests were carried out to enrich the nopal (Opuntia spp.) through the use of Sacharomyces cereviceae to increase the nutritional quality of animal feed with existing resources in the area. For the pilot test, a convenience sample of 5 calves, 6 months old, of European crosses, was taken; those that were fed for 64 days with a mixture containing cactus stalks fermented for 6 hours by the action of Sacharomyces cereviceae yeasts, in a biodigester with a capacity of 300 kg at a time when the temperature ranged between 22 and 300C. During the time the test lasted, the fermented product was offered in 4 different concentrations (52.9, 58.99, 68.77 and 69.61%). The daily weight gain ranged between 0.904 and 1.117 kg/day, with the average cost per animal/day being $16.10, unlike other protein supplements with a cost of $21/animal/day; resulting in a savings of $4.90 using fermented nopal. Based on the results obtained, the protein enrichment of the nopal cactus means an option to obtain protein at a low cost, and there is even the possibility of reducing costs by implementing plots of forage cactus on different livestock farms.