Semina: Ciências Agrárias (Jul 2015)

Feeding behavior of Nellore cattle fed high concentrations of crude glycerin

  • Eric Haydt Castello Branco Van Cleef ,
  • Jane Marian Bertocco Ezequiel ,
  • Rene Mauricio Patiño Pardo ,
  • Andre Pastori D`Aurea ,
  • David Attuy Vey da Silva ,
  • Flavia de Oliveira Scarpino van Cleef

DOI
https://doi.org/10.5433/1679-0359.2015v36n3Supl1p2329
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 36, no. 3Supl1
pp. 2329 – 2338

Abstract

Read online

The objective of this study was to evaluate the inclusion of up to 30% crude glycerin in Nellore cattle diets and its effects on feeding behavior parameters. It were used 30 animals with 277.7kg BW and 18 months old, which were kept in feedlot in individual pens during 103 days (21 adaptation and 82 data collection). The animals were assigned (initial weight) in blocks and submitted to the following treatments: G0; G7.5; G15; G22.5; and G30, corresponding to control group, 7.5, 15, 22.5, and 30% crude glycerin in the diet dry matter, respectively. The feeding behavior (feeding, idle, ruminating, number of chews, feeding efficiency and ruminating efficiency) were evaluated for three days. Data were analyzed as a completely randomized block design, analyzing contrasts and observing the significance of linear, quadratic and control treatment × glycerin treatments effects. The inclusion up to 30% crude glycerin in diets of Nellore cattle altered the feeding efficiency, expressed in g NDF h-1, the ruminating efficiency relative to NDF, the time and number of chews per ruminal bolus, facilitating the feed ingestion and directly influencing the time spent on feeding.

Keywords