The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of increasing levels of rumen-degradable protein (RDP = 47, 52, 57 and 62%) associated to starch sources of low (corn) and high (cassava by-product (CBP) ruminal degradability on in vitro DM digestibility (IVDMD) and average daily gain of growing steers. In vitro DM digestibility was determined by using the Tilley and Terry (1963) technique. The in vitro data was submitted to analysis of variance and regression analysis in function of dietary RDP levels. The in vivo trial was conducted using 32 crossbred steers (Nellore x Red Angus) averaging 275 kg of body weight and fed diets with 50:50 forage:concentrate ratio. Animals were housed in pairs and assigned to treatments according to a completely randomized design. No effect of increasing RDP levels was observed on IVDMD on diets supplemented with corn indicating no lack of nitrogen. Thus, corn digestibility appeared to be the limiting factor on IVDMD. A significant quadratic effect was found for IVDMD by increasing the RDP levels on diets supplemented with CBP suggesting that a better synchronization between energy availability and ammonia release improved microbial growth, which increased the efficiency of energy and RDP utilization on diets with high RDP. It was not observed effect of different RDP levels associated to a starch source rapidly degraded in the rumen on DM intake, average daily gain, and feed conversion on feedlot steers.
cassava by-product meal; corn; fermentation; synchronization
