Abstract
This work was realized to evaluate the effect of natural additives as propolis or essential oils addition on animal performance, feed intake, apparent digestibility and carcass characteristics of bulls finished in feedlot. Thirty bulls (½ Aberdeen Angus vs. ½ Nellore) were randomly assigned in one of three diets (control – CON, propolis – PRO and essential oils – OIL) and kept in feedlot (individual pen) during 55 days. CON diet consists of 45% corn silage, 40% concentrate (cracked corn, soybean meal, limestone and mineral salt) and 15% glycerine. The PRO group received same diet that control plus 3 grams to animal day -1 of propolis dry added to the concentrate. The OIL oils group received same diet that control and 3 grams to animal day -1 of essential oils (cashew and castor oils) added to the concentrate. Final weight, average daily gain, feed efficiency and hot carcass weightwere better for bulls supplemented with essential oils and propolis than for bulls fed control diet. The feed intake, apparent digestibility, carcass conformation and tissue composition were unaffected by the additives addition. The addition of propolis and essential oils in the diets of bulls finished in feedlot improve animal performance and carcass weight.
Highlights
For cattle finishing system with high energy requirements, it is necessary to increase the use of grains and cereals (DUCATTI et al, 2009; PRADO et al, 2009; DIAN et al, 2010)
The goal of this work was to evaluate the effects of propolis and essential oil additives on animal performance, intake, apparent digestibility and carcass characteristics of crossbred bulls finished in feedlot
The addition of propolis dry to the diets of bulls finished in a feedlot did not change animal performance, apparent digestibility, carcass characteristics or meat quality
Summary
For cattle finishing system with high energy requirements, it is necessary to increase the use of grains and cereals (DUCATTI et al, 2009; PRADO et al, 2009; DIAN et al, 2010). When ruminants are fed with finishing diets containing large amounts of cereal grain, the ruminal pH decrease drastically and can disturb ruminal fermentation (GONZÁLEZ et al, 2012). In recent years, there is major debate over the effects of agricultural antibiotic use on human health. 419-426, Oct.-Dec., 2014 interdisciplinary, multi-agency (human and animal health) efforts to encourage research on promising products alternatives (BENCHAAR et al, 2008). Alternative antibiotics in food animals can be natural products with antimicrobial activity (BENCHAAR et al, 2008)
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