Proportions of sugarcane and babassu mesocarp bran in diets for feedlot cattle

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the production performance of feedlot cattle fed diets containing chopped sugarcane ratios (580 or 380 g/kg of diet dry matter) as roughage and levels of inclusion of babassu mesocarp bran (BMB; 420 to 620 g/kg of concentrate dry matter). Twenty-four young Nellore bulls with 321±23 kg initial body weight, at 22 months of age, were used in a completely randomized experimental design with treatments in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement and six replicates. Dry matter intake (21.71 g/kg of body weight), average daily gain (1.46 kg/day), and cold carcass weight (232.59 kg) were not changed by proportion of sugarcane or BMB level. The proportions of sugarcane and BMB levels did not change the apparent digestibility of the diets, except the digestibility of neutral detergent fiber, which was lower in the diet associating the lowest levels of sugarcane and BMB. Increasing proportions of sugarcane reduced subcutaneous fat thickness from 2.89 to 1.91 mm. Carcass commercial primal cuts were not affected by variation factors. Inclusion of babassu mesocarp bran enables the use of larger proportions of sugarcane as a result of the increased digestibility of the fiber fraction of feedlot cattle diets without changing the performance and main carcass traits of these animals.