INTAKE, DIGESTIBILITY AND PERFORMANCE OF BEEF CATTLE RECEIVING DIETS CONTAINING UREA IN DIFFERENT PROPORTIONS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5216/cab.v9i3.643Keywords:
Produção de bovinosAbstract
Intake, apparent digestibility of nutrients, daily gain, feed conversion and the carcass yield in beef cattle receiving diets containing 0; 0.5; 1.0 e 1.5% of urea in total dry matter were evaluated. Twenty four crossed steers Holstein x Zebu (HxZ), castrated, with initial mean body weight of 290 kg were distributed in a completely randomized design. Sorghum silage was used as roughage adopting relation roughage:concentrate of 70:30 in dry matter basis. In order to determine the fecal excretion, indigestible acid detergent fiber was used as a marker. Intake and digestibility of nutrients were not influenced (P>0.05) by the proportions of urea in the diets. For intake and apparent digestibility of dry matter, mean values of 8.42 kg/day or 2.33% of BW and 64.52% were registered, respectively. Mean daily gain (1.05kg), feed conversion (8.07) and carcass yield (48.72%) were not influenced (P>0.05) by the proportions of urea in the diets. Levels of 1.5% of urea in dry matter of total diet can be used in the preparation of diets for finishing beef cattle (HxZ), without compromising intake and digestibility of nutrients and the animal performance as well.
KEY WORDS: Carcass yield, feed conversion, feedlot, sorghum silage.
Downloads
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g. in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
