Energy supplementation as strategy of pasture management

This study evaluated the effect of increased energy via supplementation on the performance, ingestive behavior, nutrient digestibility, and nitrogen metabolism of grazing heifers fed tropical forage in the rainy-dry transition season. Treatments consisted of mineral supplementation ad libitum (control) and multiple supplements formulated to provide different energy levels and the same amount of protein (300 g CP animal d-1) and were denominated as low (LE; 340 g TDN animal d^-1), medium (ME; 780 g TDN animal d^-1) and high (HE; 1220 g TDN animal d^-1) energy. Animals supplemented with ME, and HE had a greater average daily gain in relation to the control treatment, with an increase of 41 and 46%, respectively. Greater values for total apparent digestibility of neutral detergent fiber were observed for the treatment HE. Lesser values of urinary urea N were observed for the control and HE treatments. Our results define the use of energy levels in the supplement as a tool for pasture management. If the purpose of the production system is to enhance forage intake, the option is to supply supplements with less energy levels. In contrast, if the purpose is to increase the stocking rate, supplements with greater energy levels should be used.

Keywords:
beef cattle; multiple supplementation; nutritional parameters; tropical pastures

Authorship

Alyce Raiana Monteiro Santos ^** Author for correspondence. E-mail: alycemonteiro@outlook.com

Laboratório de Nutrição Animal, Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Centenário, 303, 13400-970, Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brasil. Universidade de São PauloBrazilPiracicaba, São Paulo, BrazilLaboratório de Nutrição Animal, Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Centenário, 303, 13400-970, Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brasil.

http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1049-7597

Carla Heloísa Avelino Cabral

Instituto de Ciências Agrárias e Tecnológicas, Universidade Federal de Rondonópolis, Rondonópolis, Mato Grosso, Brasil. Universidade Federal de RondonópolisBrasilRondonópolis, Mato Grosso, BrasilInstituto de Ciências Agrárias e Tecnológicas, Universidade Federal de Rondonópolis, Rondonópolis, Mato Grosso, Brasil.

Carlos Eduardo Avelino Cabral

Lívia Vieira de Barros

Instituto de Ciências Agrárias, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, Brasil. Universidade Federal de Minas GeraisBrazilMontes Claros, Minas Gerais, Brazil Instituto de Ciências Agrárias, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, Brasil.

Deborah França Pires

Altieres dos Santos Rosa

Guilherme Ribeiro Alves

Marina Pereira Souza Coutinho

* Author for correspondence. E-mail: alycemonteiro@outlook.com

SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Figures | Tables

Figures (1)
Tables (5)

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Figure 1
Rainfall and temperature during the experimental period.

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Table 1
Proportion of ingredients (based on natural matter) and chemical composition (based on dry matter) of supplements and ingredients amount supply.

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Table 2
Morphological and chemical composition of Marandu palisadegrass.

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Table 3
Effect of energy levels in supplements on performance and ingestive behavior of grazing heifers.

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Table 4
Effect of energy levels in supplements on intake and total apparent digestibility of nutrients of grazing heifers.

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Table 5
Effect of energy levels in supplements on nitrogen metabolism of grazing heifers

Figure 1 Rainfall and temperature during the experimental period.

Table 1 Proportion of ingredients (based on natural matter) and chemical composition (based on dry matter) of supplements and ingredients amount supply.

Item	Treatments
Item	Control	LE	ME	HE
	Proportion of ingredient (g kg^-1)
Mineral supplement¹	1,000	107	57	38
Urea / ammonium sulphate (9:1)	-	69	36	25
Soybean meal	-	784	280	99
Ground corn	-	40	627	838

	Composition of supplement (g kg^-1)
DM	-	882	888	890
NDF	-	144	211	235
CP	-	580	295	195
TDN	-	674	775	811

	Amount supply (kg d^-1)
Supplement	-	0.5	1.0	1.5
CP	-	0.30	0.30	0.30
TDN	-	0.34	0.78	1.22

¹Percent composition = dicalcium phosphate. 40.00; sodium chloride: 35.00; calcium carbonate: 14.83; sulphur: 4.00; calcium sulphate: 4.283; silicates: 1.00; copper sulphate: 0.48; zinc oxide: 0.3533; cobalt sulphate: 0.0367; calcium iodate: 0.00833; sodium selenite: 0.002. DM: dry matter; NDF: neutral detergent fiber; CP: crude protein; TDN: total digestible nutrients.

Table 2 Morphological and chemical composition of Marandu palisadegrass.

	Months
	March	April	May
Morphological composition (kg ha^-1)
Forage mass	1930	4280	4530
Leaf blade	630	1700	1300
Stem	310	1030	1650
Dead material	990	1550	1580
Leaf: stem ratio	0.63	1.09	0.78
Chemical composition (g kg^-1)
CP	120	122	114
NDF	567	570	574
ADF	240	230	227
ADIP	46	54	36

CP: crude protein; NDF: neutral detergent fiber; ADF: acid detergent fiber; ADIP: acid detergent insoluble protein.

Table 3 Effect of energy levels in supplements on performance and ingestive behavior of grazing heifers.

	Treatments				SEM	p-value
	Control	LE	ME	HE	SEM	p-value
Animal performance
TWG (kg)	37^b	42^ab	52^a	54^a	3.44	0.0041
ADG (g d^-1)	0.46^b	0.53^ab	0.65^a	0.67^a	0.04	0.0042

Ingestive behavior
Grazing (min d^-1)	494^b	552^a	487^b	378^c	10	< 0.0001
Rumination (min d^-1)	85^b	52^c	68^bc	142^a	36	< 0.0001
Idle (min d^-1)	142^bc	116^c	165^ab	200^a	32	< 0.0001
FE_DM (kg DM h^-1)	0.64	0.56	0.58	0.78	0.05	0.0736
FE_NDF (kg DM h^-1)	0.37^ab	0.33^b	0.35^b	0.50^a	0.03	0.0111
RE_DM (kg DM h^-1)	4.55^ab	5.75^a	4.45^ab	2.35^b	0.74	0.0407
RE_NDF (kg DM h^-1)	2.62	2.40	2.72	1.51	0.443	0.0668

LE: low energy supplement (340 g TDN animal d^-1); ME: medium energy supplement (780 g TDN animal d^-1); HE: high energy supplement (1220 g TDN animal d^-1). TWG: total weight gain; ADG: average daily gain; FE_DM: feed efficiency for dry matter intake; FE_NDF: feed efficiency for neutral detergent fiber intake; RE_DM: rumination efficiency for dry matter intake; RE_NDF: rumination efficiency for neutral detergent fiber intake. SEM: standard error of the mean. Means in the same column with different superscript letters differ (p < 0.05) by the Tukey-Kramer.

Table 4 Effect of energy levels in supplements on intake and total apparent digestibility of nutrients of grazing heifers.

	Treatments				SEM	p-value
	Control	LE	ME	HE	SEM	p-value
Intakes (kg d^-1)
Total DM	5.33	5.06	4.64	5.07	0.36	0.8199
Forage DM	5.33^a	4.73^ab	3.75^bc	3.12^c	0.34	0.0013
CP	0.64	0.63	0.63	0.67	0.06	0.4120
NDF	3.08	2.98	2.83	2.90	0.27	0.8752
Digested NDF	1.88	1.99	1.97	2.12	0.16	0.8062
Digestibility (g kg^-1)
DM	547	572	540	553	18	0.6499
CP	804	790	796	810	13	0.7224
NDF	611^c	670^b	693^ab	735^a	14	< 0.0001

LE: low energy supplement (340 g TDN animal d^-1); ME: medium energy supplement (780 g TDN animal d^-1); HE: high energy supplement (1220 g TDN animal d^-1). DM: dry matter; CP: crude protein; NDF: neutral detergent fiber. SEM: standard error of the mean. Means in the same column with different superscript letters differ (p < 0.05) by the Tukey-Kramer.

Table 5 Effect of energy levels in supplements on nitrogen metabolism of grazing heifers

	Treatments				SEM	p-value
	Control	LE	ME	HE	SEM	p-value
	g/d
NI	158	167	148	137	18	0.6955
N_MIC	78	89	94	97	12	0.5459
UreaN	37^b	66^ab	77^a	46^ab	8	0.0137
UN	6.4	9.8	10.9	6.8	2.0	0.0860
FeN	46	47	53	74	9	0.1871
UN_BW, %	28	38	40	26	5	0.1963
SUN, mg dL^-1	11^b	17^a	17^a	15^a	1	0.0438
N_MIC: NI	55	50	63	71	10	0.4935

LE: low energy supplement (340 g TDN animal d^-1); ME: medium energy supplement (780 g TDN animal d^-1); HE: high energy supplement (1220 g TDN animal d^-1). NI: nitrogen intake; N_MIC: ruminal synthesis of microbial nitrogen; UreaN: urinary urea N; UN: urinary N; FeN: fecal N excretion; UN_BW: urinary nitrogen in percentage of body weight; SUN: serum urea nitrogen; N_MIC: NI: ruminal synthesis of microbial nitrogen and nitrogen intake ratio. SEM: standard error of the mean. Means in the same column with different superscript letters differ (p < 0.05) by the Tukey-Kramer.

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Energy supplementation as strategy of pasture management

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[1] * Author for correspondence. E-mail: alycemonteiro@outlook.com