Macrominerals and Trace Element Requirements for Beef Cattle.

Luiz Fernando Costa E Silva,Polyana Pizzi Rotta,Marcos Inácio Marcondes,Edilane Costa Martins,Terry Eugene Engle,Arnaldo Taishi Tokunaga,Sebastião De Campos Valadares Filho,Flávia Adriane Sales Silva,Diego Breviario

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0144464

Luiz Fernando Costa E Silva, Polyana Pizzi Rotta + Show 7 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0144464

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Journal: PloS one	Publication Date: Dec 14, 2015
Citations: 22	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Universidade Federal de Viçosa

Abstract

Eighty-seven Nellore animals were utilized in this study to estimate net requirements for the maintenance and growth of beef cattle as well as the retention coefficients of 13 minerals: macrominerals (Ca, P, Mg, K, Na, and S) and trace elements (Cu, Fe, Mn, Se, Zn, Co, and Cr). The net requirements for maintenance and the true retention coefficient were estimated by using the regression between apparent retention and intake for each mineral. The net requirement for maintenance (μg/kg BW) and retention coefficients (%) were 163 and 85 for Cu, 2,097 and 53 for Fe, 32.3 and 24 for Mn, 3.72 and 48 for Se, 669 and 0.80 for Zn, 18.4 and 86 for Co, and 22.9 and 78 for Cr. The dietary requirements of macrominerals (g/kg DMI) were 5.12 for Ca, 2.38 for P, 0.96 for Mg, 2.40 for K, 0.79 for Na, and 1.47 for S. This is the first study using Nellore cattle to estimate mineral requirements; considering that Nellore cattle are the most common breed in Brazil and that Brazil is a major beef producer globally, this knowledge can help producers to improve animal performance by supplying the correct amount of minerals.

Highlights

The beef cattle National Research Council (NRC) [3] suggested that at least 17 minerals are required by beef cattle; the requirements of the majority of minerals are suggested in grams or milligrams per kilogram of dry matter intake (DMI) without discrimination between body maintenance or growth status, and the absorption coefficient is not taken into account for trace elements and sulfur
The true retention coefficient and the net requirement of each mineral for maintenance were calculated based on regressions between the amounts of each macromineral and trace element mineral that was retained in the body and their intakes (Eq 1)
The study group was composed of animals with shrunk body weight (SBW) between 121.0 and 591.5 kg; average daily gain (ADG) between 0 and 1.95 kg/d, and DMI between 1.18 and 11.1 kg/d

Summary

Introduction

Data Availability Statement: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files. The beef cattle National Research Council (NRC) [3] suggested that at least 17 minerals are required by beef cattle; the requirements of the majority of minerals are suggested in grams or milligrams per kilogram of dry matter intake (DMI) without discrimination between body maintenance or growth status, and the absorption coefficient is not taken into account for trace elements and sulfur. We hypothesized that knowledge of the net requirements for maintenance and growth as well as the true retention coefficient will improve the precision of setting requirements for all minerals. We developed two experiments to estimate macromineral (Ca, P, Mg, K, Na, and S) and trace element (Cu, Fe, Mn, Se, Zn, Co, and Cr) requirements for body maintenance and growth, as well as the true retention coefficient in Nellore beef cattle. The mineral balance method, based on the difference between mineral intake and mineral excretion (e.g. in feces and urine), was utilized to calculate mineral retention

Materials and Methods

Procedures Used to Calculate Mineral Requirements

Results and Discussion

Conclusions