Potential of stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen as a method of traceability of Nellore grazing

• Grant number: 11/21809-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: April 01, 2012
• End date: March 31, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry - Animal Production
• Principal Investigator: Mário de Beni Arrigoni
• Grantee: Marco Aurélio Factori
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia (FMVZ). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 08/57411-4 - Environmental stable isotopes in animal science, AP.TEM

Abstract

The projections show large increases in consumption per capita demand for animal products, especially in developing countries. To meet the growing demand, the intensive conditions in which food is produced, processed and marketed, have undergone many changes with some undesirable consequences. Poisoning, infections and deaths due to unintentional contamination are becoming more frequent. For this purpose, the technique of stable isotopes has been used as a tool for the detection of adulteration in meat, beverages and honey. Because it is a method that has as principle "the animal is what he eats," there are major advantages for use as a naturally occurring dietary indicators, its basis in the food assimilated and not just in diet, diets may obtain information consumed at short and long periods, depending on the tissue evaluated. In light of this premise, the project aims to track the isotopic carbon and nitrogen in the feces, blood and plasma of Nelore cattle raised on pasture with different nitrogen levels to establish a standard and therefore eliminate the chance of occurrence of false positive about the use of animal meal in feed. The experiment will be conducted in São Manuel Experimental Farm of UNESP / FMVZ, Campus of Botucatu / SP, with 32 cattle rearing Nellore, which will be distributed in a completely randomized design in the following treatments: T1, pasture without fertilization, T2, pasture with nitrogen as urea, T3, pasture with organic fertilization by poultry litter, and T4 grazing from livestock farming system integration. The animals will be the experimental unit and throughout the experiment soil samples will be collected, grazing, fertilizer types, feces, blood and plasma of these animals every 15 days, for a period of 90 days for subsequent isotopic analysis of carbon and nitrogen in Center for Stable Isotopes of the Biosciences Institute of UNESP, Botucatu. Data will be analyzed by the GLM procedure of SAS.