Resumen de Effects of supplemental feeding of crossbred calves on their weaning weight and on pregnancy rate of their multiparous Nelore dams
Jair de Araújo Marqués, Ivanor Nunes do Prado, Rogério Ernesto da Silva, Fernando Zawadzki, Andréa Machado Groff
This experiment used a simple random design with two treatments and 87 replicates, with the objective of evaluating the performance of crossbred calves (¿ Nelore x ¿ Red Angus) with or without supplemental concentrate feeding from birth to weaning and also the effect on subsequent reproductive efficiency of the dams during a 210-d period. The animals grazed stargrass (Cynodon nlemfuensis) and the concentrate supplement was formulated with 20% CP and 70% TDN. Supplementation increased weaning weight by 9.4% over non-supplementation. No significant difference was observed between the two groups of dams in pregnancy rate, but those whose calves were supplemented showed 10.7% advantage in this criterion. Under the conditions of this experiment supplementation of calves promoted faster weight gain to weaning and tended to benefit the dams also.
