Dry corn gluten feed in feedlot diets: dry matter intake, performance and feeding behaviour

Abstract

Feedlot diets commonly has high proportion of non-fiber carbohydrates, specially corn starch.. High energy diets can cause digestive disorders and consequently impair animal performance. Therefore, evaluation of novel by-products to optimize performance and decreasing costs with feed components is very important. Nowadays, this topic has had a substantial interest of cattle industry. The purpose of this trial is to evaluate effects of dry corn gluten feed inclusion on dry matter intake, performance and feeding behavior of Nellore bulls. A hundred-twenty non-castrated Nellore bulls, with average initial body weight of 361,2 ± 15 will be used. This animals will be randomly allocated in four treatments with increasing levels of dry corn gluten feed (0, 18, 36, 54% of dietary DM) in replacement of ground grown. Dry matter intake will be registered daily. Feeding behavior data will be collected through visual observation during 24 hours and every 5 minutes. Sampling of ingredients and refusals will be collected to determine selective consumption. After 113 days on feed, animals will be weighed to obtain final weight and average daily gain, feed conversion and feed efficiency. All data will be analyzed as a completely randomized block design using the MIXED procedure of SAS (Statistical Analysis System, v. 9.4) including the CONTRAST option.