Effects of Maternal Protein Supplementation at Mid-Gestation of Cows on Intake, Digestibility, and Feeding Behavior of the Offspring
2022
Karolina Batista Nascimento | Matheus Castilho Galvão | Javier Andrés Moreno Meneses | Gabriel Miranda Moreira | German Darío Ramírez-Zamudio | Stefania Priscilla de Souza | Ligia Dias Prezotto | Luthesco Haddad Lima Chalfun | Marcio de Souza Duarte | Daniel Rume Casagrande | Mateus Pies Gionbelli
This study aimed to assess the effects of maternal protein supplementation and offspring sex (OS) on the intake parameters of the offspring. Forty-three Tabapuã cows were randomly allocated in the following treatments: protein supplementation (PS) during days 100–200 of gestation (RES, 5.5% total crude protein (CP), <i>n</i> = 2, or CON, 10% total CP, <i>n</i> = 19) and OS (females, <i>n</i> = 20; males, <i>n</i> = 23). The offspring were evaluated during the cow–calf (0–210 days), backgrounding (255–320 days), growing 1 (321–381 days), and growing 2 (382–445 days) phases. The CON offspring tended to present higher dry matter intake (DMI) at weaning (<i>p</i> = 0.06). The CON males presented lower digestibility of major diet components in the growing 2 phase (<i>p</i> ≤ 0.02). The CON offspring spent 52% more time per day eating supplements at 100 days and 17% less time in idleness at 210 days. The CON males spent 15 min more per day ruminating than RES males in the feedlot phase (<i>p</i> = 0.01). We concluded that protein supplementation over gestation alters the offspring feed intake pattern as a whole, while protein restriction promotes compensatory responses on nutrient digestibility in males.
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