Performance of Nellore young bulls on Marandu grass pasture with protein supplementation

Matheus Henrique Moretti,Gustavo Rezende Siqueira,Wellington Da Costa De Campos,Letícia Custódio,Luiz Henrique Ferreira,Anna Paula De Toledo Piza Roth,Marcella De Toledo Piza Roth,Flávio Dutra De Resende

doi:10.1590/s1516-35982013000600008

Matheus Henrique Moretti, Gustavo Rezende Siqueira + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/s1516-35982013000600008

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Abstract

The objective of this study was to verify the effect of low-intake supplementation on performance of Nellore young bulls kept on Marandu grass pasture. The experiment was divided in two periods: the dry and rainy seasons. Treatments during the dry period were composed of mineral salt with urea and mineral supplement enriched with true protein and additive. In the rainy period treatments were mineral salt and enriched mineral supplement only. Pastures were evaluated and animals were weighed in both evaluation phases. The variables studied were evaluated in a completely randomized design in a split-plot arrangement, where plots were treatments and subplots were the periods within each phase, considering the types of supplementation as treatments. During the dry season there was no effect of supplement type in the first and second periods of assessment on weight gain of animals, which was of 0.307 and 0.113 kg/day, respectively. In the third period of this phase there was effect of the type of supplementation on animal performance; animals which received enriched mineral supplement gained 0.600 kg/day vs. 0.517 kg/day for those which received mineral salt with urea. In the rainy season, animals receiving enriched mineral supplement gained more weight than animals receiving mineral supplement: 0.800 and 0.696 kg/day, respectively. Mineral supplementation with addition of protein and additives provides increases in the weight gains of animals kept at a grazing regime of 15%.

Highlights

Nutrition is one of the main factors to be considered in the productive systems of grazing animals, since its use provides the most economic way of rearing cattle sustainably (Reis et al, 2006)
Treatments during the dry period were composed of mineral salt with urea and mineral supplement enriched with true protein and additive
Mineral supplementation with addition of protein and additives provides increases in the weight gains of animals kept at a grazing regime of 15%

Summary

Introduction

Nutrition is one of the main factors to be considered in the productive systems of grazing animals, since its use provides the most economic way of rearing cattle sustainably (Reis et al, 2006). For being basically developed in a grazing regime, the Brazilian beef cattle industry must be understood from a complex perspective, which involves different factors within the production system (animal, climate factors, environment, supplements, etc.), assuming great complexity in the generation of the end product, given that its quantity, quality and economic and environmental efficiency will be affected by different interactions. The addition of limiting nutrients to the system via supplements at specific times and situations enable the continuous growth of animals and reduction in the production cycle. Strategies of nutrient supply that make the growth patterns intended viable in the production system should be established

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