Low intake supplement for non-pregnant beef cows

• Main Authors: Nelcino Francisco de Paula, Mário Fonseca Paulino, Victor Rezende Moreira Couto, Edenio Detmann, Ivan França Smith Maciel, Ériton Egídio Lisboa Valente, Lívia Vieira de Barros, Roberta Kely Viana Mendes
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Estadual de Londrina 2014-09-01
• Series: Semina: Ciências Agrárias
• Subjects: Beef cattle; Digestibility; Protein supplementation; Urochloa decumbens
• Online Access: http://www.uel.br/revistas/uel/index.php/semagrarias/editor/submission/13489
• ISSN: 1676-546X; 1679-0359

The objective with this work was evaluate the effect of level different of low intake supplements on body weight (BW) change, body condition score (BCS), intake, digestibility and protein microbial efficiency of non-pregnancy cow, crossbreed, with Nellore blood predominance and initial BW of 394.7±13.14 kg in Urochloa decumbens Stapf during dry season. Four treatments were evaluated: Control (without supplementation), T250, T500, and T750, corresponding 250, 500, and 750 g of supplement/animal/ day, respectively. The experiment was carried in a completely randomized experimental design. There was not effect of the level supplementation on final BW, average gain daily (AGD), and BCS, with average of 409.8 kg, 0.181 kg, and 4.85 point, respectively. There was increase (P<0.10) of the intake of crude protein (CP), non-fibrous carbohydrates, and ether extract (EE) with the level supplementation. The average total dry matter intake was 20.31 g/kg of BW. The digestibility coefficients dry matter, organic matter, neutral detergent fiber, and total digestible nutrients showed a quadratic response and a linear effect (P<0.10) on digestibility coefficients of the CP and EE according supplementation level. The supplementation level not influenced (P>0.10) the microbial protein synthesis. Concluded that level supplementation increased the nutrient amount, but not able to increase the performance the animals.