Cardoso et al., 2004. Rev. Bras. Zootec., 33 (6 Supplement 2): 2132-2139
Desempenho de novilhos Simental alimentados com silagem de sorgo, cana-de-açúcar e palhada de arroz tratada ou não com amônia anidra
The performance of steers fed diets using as roughage rice straw treated with anhydrous ammonia, rice straw+urea, sugar cane+urea and sorghum silage were evaluated in Brazil. Sixteen PO Simental steers, averaging 400 kg initial liveweight, were assigned to a completely randomized design. The experiment last 88 days, 15 days of adaptation and 61 experimental days, divided in three periods of 21 days. Total dry matter intake, that ranged from 7.1 to 10.0 kg/day, differ among treatments, where higher intakes were observed for animals fed ammoniated rice straw and sorghum silage. Feed:gain ratio did not differ among different diets, and an average value of 6.6 was recorded. It was observed that there was higher weight gain for the animals fed ammoniated rice straw (1.59 kg/day) in relation to the animals fed straw+urea (1.25 kg/day). The treatment with anhydrous ammonia improved the rice straw nutritive value resulted in higher voluntary intake of this roughage and, consequently, in higher daily weight gain in relation to no treated rice straw and supplemented with urea.