399 The 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 supplementation improves animal performance of Nellore cattle grazed in tropical grass
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AbstractThe objective was to evaluate the effects of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (HyD) supplementation on performance and carcass characteristics of grazing Nellore beef cattle. Eighty finishing Nellore bulls were equally distributed according initial BW (437 4.93 kg) in ten Brachiaria brizantha cv. Xaras paddocks (8 bulls per paddock) using a randomized complete block design with five replicates (paddocks) per treatment. Experiment was conducted in two phases during dry season, from August to November 2017. Phase 1 consisted in all animals receiving the same basal concentrate for 33 days. In phase 2, animals received the treatments for the following 63 days: 1) Control (basal concentrate, no HyD) or 2) HyD (basal concentrate + 1mg of HyD/bull/day). The basal concentrate (18% CP and 80% TDN) was formulated to have 82.0% ground corn, 12.0% soybean meal and 6.0% mineral-vitamin supplement (as % DM), being daily offered to bulls at 7.0 kg/animal/day in collective feeders located at each paddock. Final BW (FBW) and average daily gain (ADG) were evaluated for phase 1, 2 and total period, while supplement intake, hot carcass weight (HCW) and dressing percentage was evaluated for total period only. Mineral-vitamin supplement and HyD were provided by DSM Nutritional Products. Data were analyzed using the MIXED procedure of SAS 9.3, with each paddock considered one experimental unit and values declared significant when P > 0.10. There was no treatment effect on phase 1 in FBW and ADG, as expected. In phase 2, treatment effects were observed for HyD in FBW (562.75 vs. 568.70; P = 0.094) and ADG (1.350 vs. 1.437 kg/day; P = 0.029) over the control group, respectively. Moreover, the total period ADG was greater for HyD treatment (1.311 vs. 1.375; P = 0.095). No effects were observed in carcass characteristics and concentrate intake. In conclusion, HyD improves animal performance of Nellore beef cattle grazed in tropical conditions.
