Dry corn gluten feed in Nelore diet in termination: ingestive behavior, ruminal health and blood metabolic profile

• Grant number: 18/18002-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: December 01, 2018
• End date: February 28, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry - Animal Nutrition and Feeding
• Principal Investigator: Danilo Domingues Millen
• Grantee: Hugo Lennon Correa
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia (FMVZ). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Feedlot diets are composed with high proportion of grains, in which corn is the main energetic ingredient of the diet. High energy diets represents the largest portion of feed expenditure in beef production, and can compromise ruminal parameters, causing instability in fermentation processes and consequently harm animal performance. Therefore, the search for alternative foods that optimize food expenditures, improve digestive processes and contribute to animal performance, are necessary. The objective of this research is to evaluate the effect of inclusion of dry corn gluten meal on intake, ingestive behavior, and ruminal health of Nellore cattle in finishing. A total of 120 male non-castrated cattle with approximately 361.2 ± 15 kg of initial body weight and randomized in a randomized block design with four treatments of different levels of inclusion of dry corn gluten meal (0, 18, 36, 54% of dietary DM) to replace corn grain. Data on ingestive behavior will be collected by 24-hours of observation every 5 minutes, as well as the evaluation of the selectivity of diet ingredients through the collection of samples of the offered and refused diet at the same day of behavior evaluation. Data regarding of metabolic profile of the blood will be collected with the i-STAT CG4 + ® device, with blood collection from two animals per treatment, at the end of the adaptation phase and at the end of the termination stage. After one hundred and thirteen days, the animals will be slaughtered and rumenitis evaluantion and hepatic abscess rates, papilla morphology and histology, data will be collected. The data will be analyzed using the PROC MIXED procedure of SAS statistical software (SAS Inst. Inc., Cary, NC, USA). The bay will be the experimental unit and included in the model as random effect. The model will include levels of maize gluten meal as a fixed effect. The SAS CONTRAST option will be used to evaluate linear, quadratic, and cubic effects. The averages will be compared by the Tukey Test, being considered significant effects values of P <0.05. (AU)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

CORREA, Hugo Lennon. Dry corn gluten feed in diet of feedlot beef cattle nelore: behavior intake, ruminal health, blood profile metabolic and relative expression of mRNA of genes transporters fatty acid ruminal. 2021. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia. Botucatu Botucatu.