Abstract
Abstract The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of creep-feeding supplementation on growth performance and efficiency, feed intake and digestibility for Nellore calves grazing on tropical pastures, using a meta-analytical approach. The dataset was collected from 18 studies, which were carried out between 2007 and 2017, totalling 75 treatment means that represented 832 cow–calf pairs. All studies had a control treatment with no creep-feeding supplementation ( non-creep-fed calves ) and a wide variety of creep-feeding treatments ( creep-fed calves ) that were evaluated herein as a daily amount of supplement intake (SUP, g/kg BW, DM basis) and supplemental crude protein intake (SCPI, g/kg BW); dependent variables were evaluated as differential values relative to non-creep-fed calves. Forage DM intake (g/kg BW) decreased linearly as SUP increased (0 . 43 g/kg BW per each g/kg BW of supplement DM intake), whereas milk DM intake (g/kg BW) was not affected, though total DM intake increased linearly (0 . 50 g/kg BW per each g/kg BW of supplement DM intake). The fibre digestibility responded quadratically to SUP and SCPI; however, DM digestibility and TDN intake increased linearly as SUP increased. The supplemental weight gain (SWG) responded quadratically as SUP ( P P
Published Version
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