Abstract
This study evaluated the effect of different protein sources (soybean meal, cottonseed meal, peanut meal and sunflower meal) on dry matter and nutrient intake, productive performance and body measurements of dairy heifers, Holstein x Zebu, recreated in confinement. The experiment consisted in a randomized complete block design made up by 6 replications and 4 treatments. The mean values of ingestion of ether extract (EEI, kg day -1 ) were statistically different (p < 0.05). The neutral detergent fiber intake (NDFI, %BW) also presented differences (p < 0.05), with higher values in the diet containing sunflower meal (1.01% BW) in relation to the diet with soybean meal (0.84% BW). The average daily weight gain using the diet with soybean meal was superior (0.95 kg day -1 ) to the diet with sunflower meal (0.82 kg day -1 ), and considering the final body weight, the diet with soybean meal was superior to the other treatments (p < 0.05). The heart girth presented greater association with body weight (0.93). The soybean meal promoted the best productive performance of crossbred Holstein x Zebu heifers fed diets based on sugarcane. However, cottonseed meal, peanut meal and sunflower meal can be possible alternatives to soybean meal.
Highlights
Replacement heifers are the basis of any dairy exploitation system, and in Brazil they have an important participation in the production cost
The mean values of ether extract intake (EEI, kg day-1) presented statistical differences, in which the animals fed the diet with soybean meal (0.09 kg day-1) were superior to the other treatments; and in those which received the diet with cottonseed meal (0.07 kg day-1), the EEI was superior to the diet with sunflower meal (0.05 kg day-1) and was not different (p > 0.05) from the diet with peanut meal
The variation in EEI was coherent with the concentration of this nutrient in the diets, which presented contents of 1.11; 0.99; 0.90 and 0.80 %dry matter (DM) in the diets containing soybean meal, cottonseed meal, peanut meal and sunflower meal, respectively
Summary
Replacement heifers are the basis of any dairy exploitation system, and in Brazil they have an important participation in the production cost. Herd breeding is possible when older cows are replaced by better fed, healthy and genetically superior animals; dairy replacement heifers require adequate amounts of protein in the diet which enable healthy growth (HOFFMAN et al, 2001). Aiming this healthy growth, nutrition is one of the aspects that should be monitored very carefully. Nutrition is one of the aspects that should be monitored very carefully In this sense, sugarcane becomes a very attractive alternative, once this roughage is no longer discriminated by the low protein content and has gained the status of energetic forage. The sugarcane itself is not enough to allow weight gain in animals, so the adoption of concentrate is necessary, making up a complete diet so as to correct the low protein content presented by this
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