Effects of dried distillers grains supplementation on intake, digestibility, metabolism, and performance of suckling beef calves on pasture.

Abstract

The supply of metabolizable nutrients to suckling beef calves on pasture can improve their performance, increasing weaning weight and productivity in cow-calf systems. The objective was to evaluate the effects of dried distillers grains (DDG) inclusion on intake, digestibility, metabolism, and performance of suckling beef calves grazing tropical pastures. Forty-eight Nellore calves, 120 ± 35 days of age and 135 ± 23.4 kg of body weight (BW), were used. During 117 days, calves received one of the following treatments under a creep-feeding strategy: mineral mixture only, provided ad libitum (CONTROL); or concentrate supplementation (SUP, 6 g/kg BW, containing 225 g/kg crude protein) with 0% (SUP0), 48.4% (SUP48), or 96.8% (SUP96) DDG inclusion. Concentrate supplementation increased intake of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), non-fibrous carbohydrates (NFC), total digestible nutrients (TDN), and the CP/digestible organic matter ratio (P < 0.10). Digestibility of DM, CP, and NFC decreased linearly with increasing DDG inclusion. Serum glucose, insulin-like growth factor 1, and blood urea nitrogen concentrations were higher in calves on concentrate supplementation (P < 0.10). Concentrate supplementation increased average daily gain, weaning BW, and ribeye area (P < 0.10), with no differences related to DDG inclusion (P > 0.10). Supplementation improves beef calves nutritional characteristics, metabolism and performance. Additionally, DDG can be included in supplements for suckling beef calves grazing tropical pastures, with potential to replace traditional feedstuffs such as corn and soybean meal, without negatively affecting performance and serum metabolism.