CONSUMPTION AND PERFORMANCE OF DAIRY CATTLE IN CONFINEMENTFED WITH GLYCEROL

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the nutrients intake and the productive performance ofdairy cows and steers fed diets containing glycerol. The animals were distributed in a completely randomized design with factorial arrangement 4 glycerol levels (0, 6, 12 and 24%) x2sexes (steers and cows) and three replications. The consumption of dry matter (DM) crude protein (CP) and non-fiber carbohydrates (NFC) were not affected by inclusion of glycerol in the diets of cows and steers.However, there was a linear decrease in the consumption of neutral detergent fiber (NDF) (g/kg BW) for cows, but it did not affect the consumption of NDF and ethereal extract (EE) for steers when expressed in kg/day, but showed a quadratic response to NDF intake expressed as%BW and a linear decrease for the consumption of EE expressed in g/kgBW^0.75 and %BW. The cows showed a higher intake of DM, CP, NDF, NFC, expressed in kg/day, than the steers, when the diets included 6 and 12% glycerol and higher intakes of DM, NDF and NFC, expressed in g/kg/BW^0.75, when diet included 6% glycerol. The daily weight gain was not affected by the inclusion of glycerol. We concluded that glycerol can be included up to 24% of total DM of diets ofdairy steers and cows without compromising animal performance.

KEYWORDS: biodiesel byproducts; crude glycerin; nutritional value.