Organic additives used in beef cattle feedlot: Effects on metabolic parameters and animal performance.

Organic additives are recently being used in animal diets owing to their ability to control metabolic issues and result in better animal performance. Specifically, the organic additive Fator P® presents an additional advantage that is to cause a lesser greenhouse gas emission. This study evaluated whether Fator P® intake changes ruminal parameters or animal performance of beef cattle. Evaluations were carried out in a feedlot experiment divided into growing (46 days; two diets [control mix-CM and standard mix-SM] and finishing (lasted 83 days; four diets: CM, SM, Fator P® + virginiamycin, and Fator P® alone [FP]) trials. Animal performance study involved 48 animals allocated to 12 collective pens in completely randomized experimental design. Ruminal parameters were evaluated in separate metabolism study developed carried out using individual pen with four steers. During growing trial, FP diet resulted in higher (p < 0.05) dry matter intake (DMI) and ruminating time. In the finishing trial, diets containing Fator P® resulted in higher DMI than obtained with CM. Most of the ruminal parameters did not differ (p > 0.05) among dietary treatments. Therefore, Fator P® represents a viable and safe strategy for supplementation to beef cattle finished using high-concentrate diet in feedlot systems.

Glicerina bruta na dieta de bovinos de corte confinados: efeito sobre o hemograma / Crude glycerin on feedlot beef cattle diets: effect on hemogram

Objetivou-se com este estudo avaliar o hemograma de bovinos alimentados com glicerina bruta. Trinta novilhos da rno leucograma destes animais.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the hemogram in cattle fed crude glycerin. 30 Nellore steers, were used for blood sampling, which were done each 28 days. The animals were confined for 103 days and were fed with five diets containing 0, 7.5, 15, 22.5 and 30% crude glycerin based on dry matter, formulated in a forage:concentrate ratio of 30:70. Corn silage was used as forage and the concentrate was composed by corn grain, soybean hulls, sunflower meal, glycerin, limestone, dicalcium phosphate and salt. The experimental design was a randomized block with five treatments. Orthogonal contrasts were used to determine the linear, quadratic, cubic effects and gliceryn treatments × the control one. There was no treatment effect (P>0,05) on blood concentrations of erythrocytes, hematocrit, basophils, eosinophils, band neutrophils and lymphocytes, but were linearly effect on the concentrations of platelets, hemoglobin and monocytes (P=0.009, P=0.001 and P=0.043, respectivelly), and cubic effect on the concentrations of total leukocytes and segmented neutrophils (P=0.008 and P=0.004, respectivelly). Diets for beef cattle, with forage:concentrate ratio of 30:70 added with crude glycerin promote changes in the erytrhogram and leucogram of these animals.