Grazing behavior, growth performance, carcass yield and economic analysis of steers supplemented with concentrate in an integrated crop-livestock system
P. Batista, S. G. Neto, D. Quadros, G. G. L. Araújo, Doug Tolleson, H. N. Souza
{"title":"Grazing behavior, growth performance, carcass yield and economic analysis of steers supplemented with concentrate in an integrated crop-livestock system","authors":"P. Batista, S. G. Neto, D. Quadros, G. G. L. Araújo, Doug Tolleson, H. N. Souza","doi":"10.5897/IJLP2021.0762","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"This trial evaluated concentrate supplementation on grazing behavior, growth performance, carcass yield and economic analysis of off-season steer production in an integrated crop-livestock system (ICL). A randomized block design with the pastures (modules) as blocks, with 4 treatments, 4 groups of animals per treatment and 3 animals per group (N=48, 395±16 kg) was used to evaluate increasing levels of concentrate supplementation (1.0, 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0 kg/animal/day) containing 17% crude protein and 76% total digestible nutrients. The steers were kept in “Santa Fe” ICL Urocloa ruziziensis pastures during the dry season. Concentrate intake was 0.98, 1.45, 1.86, and 2.02 kg/animal/day, representing 0.23, 0.34, 0.44, and 0.47% of BW. Supplementation did not affect grazing time (P = 0.66); however, linearly decreased rumination time (P = 0.025) and increased idling (P = 0.043) and trough (P = 0.034) times. Average daily gain, carcass weight, dressing percentage and beef productivity linearly increased (P < 0.01) with increasing concentrate in the diets. All the supplementation levels were profitable, but the profit margin was greater in the highest level of concentrate supplementation. Concentrate supplementation to produce off-season Nellore steers in ICL was an efficient and profitable way to enhance growth performance and carcass yield without compromising grazing activity. \n \n Key words: beef cattle, behavior, carcass, intake, performance.","PeriodicalId":14143,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Livestock Production","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2021-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Journal of Livestock Production","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.5897/IJLP2021.0762","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This trial evaluated concentrate supplementation on grazing behavior, growth performance, carcass yield and economic analysis of off-season steer production in an integrated crop-livestock system (ICL). A randomized block design with the pastures (modules) as blocks, with 4 treatments, 4 groups of animals per treatment and 3 animals per group (N=48, 395±16 kg) was used to evaluate increasing levels of concentrate supplementation (1.0, 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0 kg/animal/day) containing 17% crude protein and 76% total digestible nutrients. The steers were kept in “Santa Fe” ICL Urocloa ruziziensis pastures during the dry season. Concentrate intake was 0.98, 1.45, 1.86, and 2.02 kg/animal/day, representing 0.23, 0.34, 0.44, and 0.47% of BW. Supplementation did not affect grazing time (P = 0.66); however, linearly decreased rumination time (P = 0.025) and increased idling (P = 0.043) and trough (P = 0.034) times. Average daily gain, carcass weight, dressing percentage and beef productivity linearly increased (P < 0.01) with increasing concentrate in the diets. All the supplementation levels were profitable, but the profit margin was greater in the highest level of concentrate supplementation. Concentrate supplementation to produce off-season Nellore steers in ICL was an efficient and profitable way to enhance growth performance and carcass yield without compromising grazing activity.
Key words: beef cattle, behavior, carcass, intake, performance.