Soybean meal and coast cross hay digestibilities with bos taurus fed with different ratios roughage/concentrate in their diets

Abstract

The objective of this work was to evaluate the apparent digestibility of soybean meal and of “coast-cross” hay with different levels of roughage: A = 40%; B = 60%; C = 80% and D = 100% hay on the diets. Digestion trial was runned with 8 steers, 200 kg average live weight, in a complete randomized design. The period of faeces collection was seven days. Digestion coefficients were: DM 71,61%, 71,43%, 60,39% and 62,61%; CP = 73,32%, 78,12%, 73,55% and 74,34%; CF = 59,74%, 66,56%, 63,80% and 65,74%; ENN = 75,95%, 73,94% 58,02% and 60,93%; EE = 72,90%, 70,84%, 61,04% and 63,30%, for A, B, C and D treatments, respectively. TDN values were: A = 63,13%, B = 62,20%, C = 54,96% and D = 51,28%. Digestion coefficents of DM and NFE and TDN values increased, as more concentrates were employed on cattle's diets.