The maintenance net energy requirement of steers grazing elephangrass (Pennisetum purpureum, Schum) cv. Napier, as unique food, was determined. The trial lasted 175 days. Nine 0.5 ha paddocks were implanted in flat-land, in rotational grazing, were used. Thirty-six ¾ Gyr-Holstein steers averaging initial age of 20 months and 332 ± 37 kg body weight (BW) were used. Half of animals had grazing time restricted to four hours daily, to limit energy intake at a level close to maintenance, and half […]

The objective of this trial was to evaluate the effects of different levels of supplementation on performance of grazing steers in the growing phase. The experiment was carried from March to November 2003. Fifty-five steers averaging 10 months old and initial body weight of 226 kg were assigned to a completely randomized design. The treatments were as follows: control (mineral salt) and supplements fed at different levels (0.125, 0.25, 0.50, and 1.0% body weight/animal/day) and contained corn and soybean meal […]

Forty steers averaging 371 kg BW were allotted to a randomized block design with a 3 x 3 factorial arrangement, where four steers were slaughtered as reference, to evaluate the effects of feeding different protein sources (urea, amiferm, soybean meal) and forage (sugar cane, corn silage and pasture Bracharia brizantha) on carcass biometry and viscera and internal organs weights. Diets were formulated to be isoenergetic and isonitrogenous. No significant forage x protein source interaction was detected. It was not observed […]

Thirty-two crossbred Santa Inês hair sheep lambs (16 males and 16 females) bred with their female progenitors on pasture of Brachiaria humidicola grass, supplemented in creep-feeding during the night, were allotted to a completely randomized design, in a factorial arrangement 4 x 2, four weaning ages (56, 70, 84 and 98 days) and sex to determine the best weaning age. At weaning, the lambs were confined in individual pens until 126 days old, when were daily fed Tifton 85 hay, […]

The objective of this trial was to study the production of thirty-five crossbred goats: 1/2Brown Alpine x 12 1/2Moxoto (1/2BA-M), 11 3/4Brown Alpine x 1/4Moxoto (3/4BA-M), and 12 Tricross (1/2Anglo Nubian x 1/4Moxoto x 1/4Brown Alpine). After birth, the kids were separated from their mothers. Goats were milked twice a day and milk composition determined weekly. Animals were housed in collective pens and received a diet composed of sorghum silage (ad libitum) plus concentrate that were formulated to allow 2.5 […]

Five lactating Brown-Swiss cows averaging 520 kg of body weight (BW) and 15 kg of milk yield were assigned to a 5 x 5 Latin square to study the effects of replacing sorghum silage (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) with a columnar cactus known as xiquexique (Pilosocereus gounellei (A. Weber ex K. Schum.) Byl ex Rowl.) on animal performance and apparent digestibility of nutrients. The experimental diets contained (DM basis): 0, 12.5, 25, 37.5, or 50% of xiquexique. Each experimental period […]

The objective of this trial was to evaluate the voluntary intake and ruminal passage of particles in supplemented finishing cattle during the drought to rainy transition season. Five Holstein x Zebu steers averaging 304 kg of live weight and 24 months of age located in five paddocks (0.34 ha each) of Brachiaria decumbens were used in this trial. The supplements fed (4 kg/animal/day) contained ground corn, whole soybean, urea, ammonium sulfate, and minerals and were formulated to yield, on as-fed […]

Two trials were conducted to study the effects of different levels of urea or cottonseed hulls on yield of microbial protein, estimated by the urinary excretion of purine derivatives, concentration of plasma urea, and excretion of urea in steers. In the first trial, 24 crossbred castrated steers averaging 300 kg of initial live weight (LW) were uniformly assigned to four treatments in a complete randomized design as follows: 0, 0.65, 1.30, or 1.95% of urea (% of dry matter) that […]

Four ruminally and duodenally cannulated Nellore steers were assigned to a 4 x 4 latin square to study the effects of feeding monensin (M) and different sources of fat on the ruminal population of ciliate protozoa and ruminal pH. The experimental diets contained (DM basis) 19% of sugar cane and were supplemented with M [control (CTRL)], M plus calcium salts of fatty acids (CSFA), M plus whole cottonseed (MWCS), or only WCS. Ruminal contents were sampled at 0, 2, 4, […]

The objective of this trial was to evaluate ruminal, intestinal, and total tract apparent digestibilities of nutrients as well as metabolism of ruminal and nitrogenous compounds in supplemented finishing cattle during the drought to rainy transition season. Five Holstein x Zebu steers averaging 304 kg of live weight and 24 months of age located in five paddocks (0.34 ha each) of Brachiaria decumbens were used in this trial. The supplements fed (4 kg/animal/day) contained ground corn, whole soybean, urea, ammonium […]