This work aimed to survey management practices used by dairy farmers and to report nutritional recommendations adopted by 43 dairy cattle nutritionists in Brazil. The web-based survey consisted of 80 questions. Almost 50% of the participants had clients that produce <1000 kg of milk daily and 48.8% had clients who own fewer than 100 dairy cows. Corn was the primary source of grain (97.4%), and 43.9% of the nutritionists included from 41% to 50% concentrate in lactation diets. The mean roughage inclusion in lactation diets was 50.5% and 79% of the nutritionists reported corn silage as the primary roughage source. Average crude protein and rumen-degradable protein concentrations recommended by the nutritionists for lactation diets were 15.7% and 9%, respectively. Average Ca and P concentrations recommended for lactation diets were 0.70% and 0.41%, respectively. The major health problem reported by 83.9% of the nutritionists was mastitis. The present survey provides an overview of management practices adopted by dairy farmers and nutritional recommendations currently applied by dairy cattle nutritionists in Brazil. The most critical points identified were low milk yield, mastitis as the major health problem, lack of proper mixing and delivery of rations, and destination of male calves.

Objetivou-se avaliar o impacto da inclusão de caroço de algodão e glicerina bruta em suplementos múltiplos para bovinos em terminação na época das águas, sobre o desempenho produtivo e econômico da suplementação e aumento no peso de abate. Foram utilizados 40 bovinos, Nelore, machos, não castrados, distribuídos aleatoriamente em 4 grupos que receberam oferta média de 0,75 % do peso corporal em suplemento, pela formulação padrão (SP), inclusão de 15 % de glicerina bruta (GLIC), inclusão de 25 % de caroço de algodão (CA) ou inclusão de 15 % de glicerina bruta e 25 % de caroço de algodão (CAGLIC). Não houve influencia (p>0,05) sobre desempenho, peso de carcaça quente ou rendimento de carcaça. O incremento no peso de abate, mostrou-se favorável economicamente, independente da formulação utilizada, embora a maior rentabilidade tenha sido alcançada pelo fornecimento do suplemento CAGLIC dado ao menor custo do suplemento e manutenção do desempenho. A renda pode variar de acordo com os preços dos ingredientes padrões, devendo estes fatores ser considerados para a elaboração de suplementos múltiplos para bovinos em engorda a pasto no período das águas.

This study, conducted at the São Paulo State University feedlot, Dracena campus, Brazil, was designed as a completely randomized block with 2 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments to evaluate the effects of adding functional oils (FO) or sodium monensin (MON) on feedlot performance, carcass traits, feeding behaviour and rumen morphometrics of Nellore cattle. Ninety-six 20-mo-old Nellore bulls (365.52 ± 39.19 kg) were randomly allocated to 24 pens (n = 4/pen), which were assigned to the treatments: (1) Control (no feed additives); (2) FO (500 ppm); (3) MON (27 ppm); and (4) MON + FO (27 + 500 ppm, respectively). Each treatment was replicated 6 times, and cattle were fed for 105 days. From 0 to 28 days on feed, cattle fed FO had lower dry matter intake (DMI) variation, sorted for medium particles and presented smaller papillae width. The feeding of FO did not negatively impact feedlot performance overall. When MON was added to the diet, cattle had lower DMI overall and 12th rib fat daily gain, and improved gain to feed ratio. The addition of MON to diets improved feedlot performance but reduced the rate of carcass fat deposition. The few effects observed when FO was added to diets were not sufficient to impact feedlot performance.

SUMMARY This study evaluated the effects of eight combinations of three exogenous enzymes with fibrolytic activity (FIB), amylolytic activity (AMZ), and proteolytic activity (PRO) on the accumulated gas production (PG) and kinetic parameters in simulated fermentations in two diet production systems using the in vitro gas production technique. In experiment 1, ruminal fluid was obtained from two Santa Ines sheep, cannulated in the rumen, kept in a feedlot and fed a diet containing a roughage:concentrate ratio of 20:80. In experiment 2, the ruminal fluid was obtained from two Santa Ines sheep, cannulated in the rumen, and kept on pasture (Brachiaria brizantha cv. Marandu). The accumulated gas production was measured during a 96-hour incubation, measured at 18 different time points. After incubation, the pH, dry matter degradability, organic matter in vitro digestibility, digestibility of neutral detergent insoluble fiber, metabolizable energy, partitioning factor, gas yield, short chain fatty acids and microbial protein production were determined. In the in vitro fermentation using the feedlot diet, the increased use of fibrolytic enzymes increased PG and improved the profile characteristics and kinetic parameters of the fermentation, regardless of the combination with other enzymes. In the in vitro fermentation using the forage diet, increased fibrolytic enzymes also increased PG, with improvements in the kinetic parameters and the profile of the fermentation, independent of the use of the other enzymes. The addition only of fibrolytic enzymes has major potential to optimize the use of feedlot diets as well of forage in ruminant feed.

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SUMMARY Exogenous enzyme preparations (fibrolytic activity (FIB), 0, 0.6, 1.2, 1.8, and 2.4 mg/ml liquid volume incubated; amylolytic activity (AMZ), 0, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, and 0.20 mg/ml liquid volume incubated; proteolytic activity (PRO), 0, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, and 0.20 mg/ml liquid volume incubated) were incubated in vitro. Their fermentation effects were assessed based on accumulated gas production, kinetic parameters, and fermentation profile using the technique of gas fermentation. Ruminal liquid was obtained from two rumen cannulated Santa Inês sheep, fed a diet with roughage-to-concentrate ratio of 20:80. Accumulated gas production was during 96 h of incubation, measured at 18 different times. After incubation, pH, dry matter degradability (DMD), organic matter in vitro digestibility (OMD), metabolisable energy (ME), partitioning factor (PF96), gas yield (GY24), short chain fatty acids (SCFA), and microbial protein production (MCP) were evaluated. Increasing FIB dose linearly decreased (P<0.05) lag time without affecting others kinetic parameters. However, FIB increased the accumulated gas production, resulting in improved DMD, OMD, ME, GY24 and SCFA. The addition of AMZ decreased linearly (P<0.05) lag time and increased (P<0.05) gas production on initial times of incubation without altering the fermentation profile. The inclusion of PRO did not affect (P>0.05) the evaluated parameters. The addition of these exogenous enzyme preparations with fibrolytic activity altered ruminal fermentation in vitro of diets containing high levels of concentrates.