Does a high or moderate nutritional supplementation affect the puberty and productive performance of Nellore heifers?

Vanessa Jaqueline Veloso da Mata; Luis Rennan Sampaio de Oliveira; Edenio Detmann; Kaliandra Souza Alves; Rafael Mezzomo; Natália Gomes Lacerda; Kharina Romana da Silva Santana; Daiany Iris Gomes

doi:10.14393/BJ-v38n0a2022-61302

Authors

Vanessa Jaqueline Veloso da Mata Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia
Luis Rennan Sampaio de Oliveira Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia
Edenio Detmann Universidade Federal de Viçosa https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5708-4987
Kaliandra Souza Alves Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8964-9345
Rafael Mezzomo Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia
Natália Gomes Lacerda Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia
Kharina Romana da Silva Santana Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia
Daiany Iris Gomes Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14393/BJ-v38n0a2022-61302

Keywords:

Beef heifers, Nutrition, Pasture.

Abstract

The effects of higher supplementation levels for young Nellore heifers fed tropical forages including their influence on puberty, need to be understood. This study investigated the influence of high and moderate supplementation levels on puberty onset and the productive performance of Nellore heifers. Thirty-six Nellore heifers (225 + 3.52 kg) were used in a completely randomized design, with three treatments: (I) no concentrate (control); (II) concentrate supplement at 4 g/kg body weight (BW); (III) concentrate supplement at 8 g/kg BW. Increased supplement level led to a linear increase in average daily gain (P < 0.05). The high supplementation level (8 g/kg BW) had the highest proportion of corpus luteum presence (82% of heifers), compared to the 4 g/kg BW treatment group (67%) and the control group (33%; P < 0.05). Our findings indicate that providing a high level of energy supplementation to Nellore heifers for approximately 100 d improves performance and increases the proportion of heifers that reach puberty

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