Levels of concentrates and protein sources in intensive pasture-based beef cattle rearing during the rainy season in the Amazon biome.

Publisher: Public Library of Science Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 101285081 Publication Model: eCollection Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1932-6203 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 19326203 NLM ISO Abbreviation: PLoS One Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: San Francisco, CA : Public Library of Science

Animal Feed*/analysis ; Animal Husbandry*/methods; Animals ; Cattle/growth & development ; Seasons ; Male ; Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena ; Rain ; Glycine max ; Brazil

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
This study aimed to evaluate the effects of different nutritional strategies on the intensification of beef cattle farming on pastures during the rainy season. Eighty male cattle (testers) were randomly allocated to 16 paddocks formed with Mombaça grass (Megathyrsus maximus), totaling five animals (testers) per paddock. The strategies consisted of two levels of concentrates (LC) [7 and 10 g.kg-1 of body weight (BW)], i.e., low and high LC, and two protein sources (PS) with dried distillers' grain with solubles (DDGS) and soybean meal (SBM) in a completely randomized design with a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement. The forage's chemical, structural, and productive characteristics and the supplemented animals' performance, productivity, and serum parameters were evaluated. The forage had the greatest height (P = 0.038) at the lowest LC; however, a greater leaf proportion (P = 0.049) and leaf: stem ratio (L:S) (P = 0.042) were observed when the highest LC was used. The animals receiving the highest LC had the highest supplement intake (P < 0.001) and a lower pasture intake (P = 0.001). The average daily gain (ADG) did not differ between the LC (P = 0.135) and PS (P = 0.190) groups (0.97 kg.day-1). The LC used in the nutritional strategies did not affect the stocking rate (P = 0.272) or productivity (P = 0.986). Supplementation of 7 g.kg-1 BW is recommended for intensive rearing of beef cattle during the rainy season, as it results in high gains at a relatively low cost. In addition, as there were no negative responses to the use of DDGS as a protein source in the supplement, it represents an alternative for replacing soybean meal in the formulations.
(Copyright: © 2025 de Faria et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

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Date Created: 20250421 Date Completed: 20250421 Latest Revision: 20250423

20250423

PMC12011373

10.1371/journal.pone.0320629

40258229