Recria de bovinos em pastagem de inverno associada à suplementação e/ou ervilhaca

Abstract

The objective was to evaluate the rearing of steers in oat pasture + ryegrass, mixture with vetch and / or energetic supplementation. The experimental design was randomized blocks with three treatments and three replicates. The treatments evaluated were: AS: oat pasture + ryegrass + supplementation, AES: oat pasture + ryegrass + vetch + supplementation and AE: oat pasture + ryegrass + vetch. Pasture management was done through continuous grazing with variable stocking rate. Was the recommended forage supply of 9.0 kg/100 kg of live weight. We used 27 uncastrated crossbred calves of the genetic group 1/4 Marchegiana 1/4 Aberdeen Angus 2/4 Nellore, called test animals, with initial age of 7 months and average weight of 190 kg, with supplementation of 1% of live weight of ground corn. Evaluations of forage and animal performance were performed every 21 days, and animal behavior was done twice per period for 24 hours. Ingestive behavior was not altered by the mixture with vetch or by the effect of supplementation. Non-supplemented animals started the grazing peak earlier and maintained longer grazing time than those supplemented, however, the average daily gain was similar for treatments. The live weight gain per hectare was about 32% higher when using supplementation in relation to the use of the vetch alone, 6.37 kg.day-¹ ha-¹ against 4.46 kg.day-¹ ha-¹, respectively. When supplemented, steers had less fodder intake (AS + AES = 5.57 kg MS day-1 versus AE = 8.35 kg MS day-1).