Quality of the forage apparently consumed by beef calves in natural grassland under fertilization and oversown with cool season forage species

The objective of this study was to evaluate the chemical composition of the forage apparently consumed by steers in a natural grassland on region of Campanha, in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, subjected or not to different inputs: NP - natural pasture without inputs; FNP - fertilized natural pasture and INP - improved natural grassland with fertilization and over-seeded with cultivated winter species. Three Angus steers testers and a variable number of regulator animals per experimental unit were utilized in order to maintain 13 kg of DM/100 kg of live weight (LW) as forage allowance. One time at each season, hand plucking samples were performed along the daily grazing time simulating forage harvested by the animals. The collected samples after drying and grind were submitted to chemical analysis to determine the forage quality. Except in winter and spring, the values of neutral detergent fiber were higher than the critical value of 550 g/kg of DM, which could limit forage intake, demonstrating that the values of forage on offer provided (15.6; 13.7; 13.5; 15.8 kg of DM/100 kg of LW/day in summer, autumn, winter and spring, respectively) were not restrictive to intake. The oversowing of winter cultivated species or fertilization positively alter the degradable fiber content. The seasons had marked influence on the chemical composition of forage apparently consumed; positively increasing some fractions of forage chemical composition in the seasons in which native or cultivated winter species increased their participation. The forage chemical composition is the determining factor in animal performance in natural pasture

Recria de novilhas de corte com diferentes níveis de suplementação energética em pastagem de aveia preta e azevém Rearing of beef heifers with different energy supplementation levels on oat and annual ryegrass pasture

O experimento foi conduzido com o objetivo de avaliar a recria de novilhas de corte, sob diferentes níveis de suplementação de farelo de trigo, em pastagem de aveia preta (Avena strigosa Schreb) + azevém (Lolium multiflorum Lam). Foram utilizadas 109 novilhas da raça Charolês e suas cruzas com Nelore com peso vivo (PV) no início do pastejo de 158 kg. Os níveis de suplementação foram: SS - animais exclusivamente em pastejo; S-0,5 - animais em pastejo recebendo suplemento na proporção de 0,5% do PV; S-1,0 - animais em pastejo recebendo suplemento na proporção de 1,0% do PV; S-1,5 - animais em pastejo recebendo suplemento na proporção de 1,5% do PV. O período de pastejo foi de 10 de julho a 02 de novembro. O sistema de pastejo foi contínuo com lotação variável, visando manter oferta de forragem de 10 kg de matéria seca/100kg de PV. Ganho de peso médio diário (GMD), condição corporal (CC), carga animal (CA) e ganho de peso por área (GPA) foram avaliados. Os níveis de suplementação afetaram o GMD de maneira distinta durante o ciclo da pastagem. O GMD médio das novilhas SS, S-0,5, S-1,0 e S-1,5, durante o período de pastejo, foi de 0,751; 0,894; 0,809 e 0,936 kg/animal/dia, respectivamente. O ganho de CC foi maior nas novilhas suplementadas, 0,8 pontos contra 0,5 pontos das novilhas exclusivamente em pastejo. A CA aumentou linearmente durante o período de pastejo no S-1,5, possibilitando, neste nível de suplementação, GPA superior ao SS e S-0,5. A taxa de substituição no consumo de forragem pelo consumo de suplemento e a adição no consumo total de MS foram determinantes sobre o desempenho das novilhas suplementadas.<br>An experiment was conducted to evaluate the rearing of beef heifers with different levels of wheat bran supplementation, on oat (Avena strigosa Schreb) + annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam) pasture. One hundred nine Charolais and Charolais crossbreed Nellore heifers, with initial weight (LW) of 158 kg, were used. The supplementation levels were: SS - animals fed oat + annual ryegrass without supplementation; S 0.5 - animals fed 0.5% of LW/day of supplementation; S 1.0 - animals fed 1.0% LW/day of supplementation; S 1.5 - animals fed 1.5% of LW/day of supplementation. The grazing period was from July 10th to November 02nd with continuous grazing and forage offer of 10 kg dry matter (DM)/100 kg LW. The variables studied were average daily weight gain (ADG), body condition (BC), stocking rate (SR) and weight gain per ha (LWG). The supplementation levels affected the ADG, on a different way during the pasture cycle. Average ADG wasof 0.751; 0.894; 0.809 and 0.936 kg/animal/day for SS, S-0.5, S-1.0 e S-1.5 heifers, respectively. BC gain was higher for supplemented heifers, 0.8 points vs 0.5 points for heifers maintained only on pasture. The SR increased linearly during the grazing period, for the S 1.5, resulting in greater LWG than for the SS and S 0.5. The substitution rate of forage intake by the supplement consumption and the addition on total DM intake were determinant for the supplemented heifers performance

Production parameters and forage loss of oat and rye grass pastures managed with beef heifers fed diets with energy supplementation

Production parameters of intercropped pastures of oat and rye grass managed with beef heifers supplemented with brown rice meal and/or protected fat were evaluated. Twenty-eight Charolais × Nellore crossbred heifers at initial average age of 18 months and initial average live weight of 274.9 kg were utilized in the experiment. Animals were kept on oat + rye grass pastures and distributed in the following treatments: no-supplementation (NS): heifers kept only in pastures; Megalac (MEG): supplementation with protected fat; brown rice meal (BRM): supplementation with BRM; BRM + MEG: supplementation with BRM plus protected fat. The greater participation of oat leaf was from July 5th to August 10th, 2009 and of rye grass, from August 30th to September 26th, 2009. The crude protein content increased until the 55th day (225.1 g/kg). Pasture total digestible nutrients presented a cubic behavior, with an average of 722.0 g/kg. The highest supply of leaf blades, 5.17 kg of dry matter/100 kg of live weight, was found in the second period. Pasture intake increased throughout the periods. Forage mass and support capacity of the animal did not differ between treatments, presenting means of 1245.02 kg of dry matter/ha and 882 kg of live weight/ha, respectively. Stoking rate, forage loss and pasture intake were not affected by the treatments. Supplementation of beef heifers with rice meal and/or protected fat did not change production parameters of oat + rye grass pastures or pasture intake. Increase in daily accumulation rate of dry matter and supporting capacity of the animals increases forage losses

Comportamento ingestivo de novilhas de corte submetidas a estratégias de suplementação em pastagens de aveia e azevém Ingestive behavior of beef heifers submitted to strategies of supplementation on oats and ryegrass pastures

Avaliou-se o comportamento ingestivo de novilhas de corte recebendo suplemento em pastagem de aveia preta (Avena strigosa Schreb.) e azevém (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) sob lotação contínua. Como tratamentos, foram avaliadas quatro estratégias de suplementação: sem suplemento - animais em pastagem de aveia (AV) e azevém (AZ); crescente - animais em pastagem de AV e AZ recebendo níveis crescentes de suplemento (0,3; 0,6 e 0,9% do peso vivo -PV); fixo - animais em pastagem de AV e AZ recebendo nível fixo de suplemento (0,9% PV); e decrescente - animais em pastagem de AV e AZ recebendo níveis decrescentes (1,5; 1,2 e 0,9% do PV) de suplemento. As características estruturais (massa de forragem, massa de forragem verde, oferta de forragem, oferta de lâminas foliares verdes, relação folha:colmo, proporção de lâminas foliares e colmos + bainhas de aveia e proporção de lâminas foliares e colmos + bainhas de azevém) e bromatológicas (proteína bruta, digestibilidade in vitro da matéria orgânica, nutrientes digestíveis totais e fibra em detergente neutro) do pasto foram semelhantes entre as estratégias de suplementação, mas variaram conforme os períodos de utilização do pasto. Os tempos diários de pastejo, ruminação e ócio e de permanência no cocho (min/dia) e a massa de bocado (g MO/boc) diferiram entre as estratégias de suplementação e as características do pasto no decorrer do ciclo. A taxa de bocado/minuto foi influenciada apenas pelo ciclo do pasto.<br>It was evaluated the ingestive behavior of beef heifers on black oats (Avena strigosa Schreb.) and Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) pastures under different strategies of supplementation and continuous stocking system. The treatments evaluated were: 'no supplement'- animals on black oats (BO) and Italian ryegrass (IR) pasture; 'increasing' - animals on BO and IR pasture receiving increasing levels (0.3, 0.6, and 0.9% of live weight - LW) of supplement; 'fixed' - animals on BO and IR pasture receiving 0.9% of LW of supplement; and 'decreasing' - animals on BO and IR pasture receiving decreasing (1.5, 1.2, and 0.9% of LW) levels of supplement. Structural sward characteristics (herbage mass, green herbage mass, herbage allowance, leaf blade allowance, leaf:stem ratio, and proportion of oats leaf blade and stem + sheath and proportion of ryegrass leaf blade and stem + sheath) and nutritive value (crude protein concentration, in vitro organic matter digestibility, total digestible nutrients, and neutral detergent fiber) were similar among strategies of supplementation and varied with pasture utilization periods. Daily grazing time, ruminating time, idling time, time spent near the trough (min/day), and bite mass (g OM/bite) varied with strategies of supplementation and sward characteristics. The biting rate/min was influenced only by grazing cycle