Body composition and energy and protein requirements of grazing Nelore steers

This experimentwas carried out with the objective of determining the energy and protein requirements of grazing Nellore steers. Twenty four Nellore steers (average 371 ± 14 kg of BW and 26 months old) were used. Four steers were slaughtered at the beginning of the experiment (reference group), serving as a reference for the subsequent study. The remaining 20 animals were weighed and distributed in a randomized complete block design with four levels of supplementation offers: 0.0 (mineral mixture - control), 0.3, 0.6 and 0.9% BW, with five replications. The supplements, based on ground corn, soybean meal and/or urea, were previously balanced to achieve an average daily gain of 350, 650 and 850g, respectively, for the different levels of supplementation offers. The protein, fat and energy contents retained in the animal body were determined by regression equations of the logarithm of the protein, fat and energy in the animal body contents, in function of the logarithm of empty body weight (EBW). Net requirements of protein and energy for a gain of 1kg of EBW were obtained by deriving the prediction equations of the animal body content of protein, fat, or energy in function of the EBW logarithm. The net energy requirements for weight gain of Nellore steer can be obtained by the equation: NEg = 0.05764 × EBW0,75 × DEBWG0.8328. The following equation was obtained to estimate the retained protein (RP), in function of the average daily gain (ADG) and retained energy (RE): RP = 28.9199 + 85.7301 FBWG + 8.0669 RE. The net protein requirement for Nellore steers decreased as the body weight increased, with values of 174.62 and 163.10 g/kg EBG for animals of 300 and 450 kg BW, respectively