Urea in diets for dairy cattle: in take of nutrients and body development

Abstract

The objective was to evaluate the use of urea as a replacement to soybean meal in diets based on silage sugar cane intake of nutrients and body development of twelve dairy crossbred cattle, bulls, with initial weight of 184.79 ± 6.6 kg and average age of 9.5 ± 1.9 months, distributed in randomized block design with two treatments (with and without urea), six replicates each. The DM, OM, CP, NDF, ADF, TDN, expressed in kg / animal / day and feed:gain ratio of DM and CP decreased with the replacement of soybean meal by urea in the diets of animals. The body measurements were not affected by the replacement of soybean meal by urea, but reduced (P<0.01) the weight gain (0.488 and 0.219 kg/animal/day, respectively) of crossbred dairy calves.

Keywords

• consumo de alimentos
• conversão alimentar
• ganho de peso
• silagem de cana-deaçúcar