Abstract
The aim of research was to evaluate the performance and characteristics of the carcasses of Nellore young bulls in grazing supplemented with or without addition of lipids. Twenty–eight young bulls, 301 ± 5.8 kg in body weight, which four constituted the reference group and the twenty-four remnants were used in the experiment and randomly distributed into four groups according to treatment: only Panicum maximum cv. Mombasa grass; Mombasa grass with concentrated supplementation based on soybean meal; Mombasa grass with concentrate containing lipids from soybean oil; and Mombasa grass with concentrate containing lipids derived from soybean grains. The total dry matter intake of the animals fed only Mombasa grass did not differ from the average intake of the three treatments supplemented with concentrate. There were no differences (P>0.05) between Mombasa grass and diets with concentrate, supplementation with or without lipid and lipids sources in the carcass traits, gastrointestinal tract, organs and loin eye area. Nellore bulls receiving concentrate increased subcutaneous fat thickness compared with bulls that received only Mombasa grass. Nellore young bulls fed Mombasa grass only, supplemented with or without addition of lipids were similar regarding growth performance and carcass traits.
Highlights
Cattle production in tropical countries is generally associated with grazing of cultivated pastures and low production costs (CARVALHO et al, 2016), variations in the quantity and quality of fodder offered may compromise the performance of the animals (SANTANA et al, 2017)
Four groups were allocated at random to each replicate area of each of the following treatments: Control – only Mombasa grass (Panicum maximum); Soybean Meal (Mombasa grass with concentrated supplementation based on soybean meal); Soybean Oil (Mombasa grass with concentrated containing lipids from soybean oil); and Soybean Grain (Mombasa grass with concentrate containing lipids derived from soybean grains)
The total dry matter intake of the animals fed only on the Mombasa grass (7.9 kg/day) did not differ (P=0.62) from the average intake of the animals in the three treatments supplemented with concentrate (8.2 kg/day) (Mombasa grass × soybean meal, soybean oil and soybean grain) (Table 2)
Summary
Cattle production in tropical countries is generally associated with grazing of cultivated pastures and low production costs (CARVALHO et al, 2016), variations in the quantity and quality of fodder offered may compromise the performance of the animals (SANTANA et al, 2017). Supplementation of cattle raised on pasture is a common practice used to improve animal performance, reduce slaughter age, and improve carcass traits (SAN VITO et al, 2015). Lipid supplements, when added to feed, causes an increase in the net energy consumed, resulting in an increase in production because the increased energy consumed improves production efficiency and can improve produce carcasses with better finishing characteristics (GOUVÊA et al, 2016; SEGERS et al, 2015; PHOEMCHALARD; URIYAPONGSON, 2015). It was hypothesized that Nellore bulls supplemented with the addition of lipids could exhibit increased performance and improved carcass characteristics young Nellore bulls in grazing. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of supplementation with or without the addition of lipids in the feed of Nellore bulls on animal performance and carcass characteristics
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