The trial was conducted to evaluate the effects of energy supplementation with ground sorghum grain on grazing beef steers weight gain. Sixty five steers without definite breed, aging 12 to 15 months and weighing an average 140 kg of live weight were kept under set stocking on a natural pasture improved with Lotus subbiflorus. Treatments consisted of control or without supplement (T0); 0.75% of mean live weight (T0.75) and 1.5% of mean live weight (T1.75) of ground sorghum grain. Animals were randomly assigned to treatments according to a complete randomized design. Considering the overall mean of the trial, supplement levels showed a linear positive effect on daily weight gain, of 0.36, 0.52 and 0.76 kg/animal for T0, T0.75 and T1.5, respectively. Energy supplementation resulted in greater weight gains for supplemented animals compared to not supplemented animals, during all the experiment.
natural grassland; sorghum grain; weight gain
