Effect of the supplementation of plant extracts, vitamins and their associations on feedlot performance and carcass traits of Nellore cattle

Abstract Text: Fifty-six Nellore (Bos indicus) young bulls of +360  kg initial weight and +20  month of age were used to evaluate the effect of the supplementation of vegetable extract , A, D and E vitamins and their associations on the feedlot performance (finishing phase) and carcass characteristics. Animals were maintained in individual pens for 105 days (21 and 84 days, for adaptation and trial period, respectively). Animals were individually weighed, and blocked by initial body weight. Pens within a block were randomly assigned to one of four treatments: (C) Control diet including A, D and E vitamin; (V) Control diet plus 50% A, D and E vitamin; (E) Diet including 0.14% (DM basis) of plant extracts;  (A) Diet with association of these two additives (50% A, D and E vitamin + 0.14% (DM basis) of plant extract). The treatments provided the same diet for all animals (85 and 15%, for concentrate and forage, respectively), varying only the inclusion of the different additives. Further, all treatments received monensin (30 mg/kg of concentrate).  Feed offered was monitored daily as well as feed refusals were collected and weighed to determine daily dry matter intake (DMI) and feed efficiency (F:G). Animals were weighed every 28 days after 16 hours feed withdrawal for calculating average daily gain (ADG). No effects of treatments (P > 0.10) were observed for DMI (9.69, 10.28, 10.03, 9.98 kg/day for diets C, V, E, A, respectively), ADG ( 1.60, 1.66, 1.64, 1.64 kg/day for diets C, V, E, A, respectively), and F:G ( 0.17, 0.16, 0.16, 0.16  for diets C, V, E, A, respectively). Back fat thickness, LM area, hot carcass weight, cold carcass weight, and cooling losses were not affected by treatments (P > 0.10). In conclusion, supplementation of plant extracts, vitamins and their association did not produces additional benefits on the feedlot performance or carcass traits of Nellore cattle. Supported by CAPES/NUTRON ®

Keywords: plant extract, feedlot performance, carcass, Nellore