Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-7drxs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-19T06:01:19.831Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A note on the effect of dry season feeding treatment on the subsequent growth at pasture during the wet season of Brahman steers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

J. Wadsworth
Affiliation:
Escuela Centroamericana de Ganadería, Apartado Postal 7, Atenas, Costa Rica, Central America
Get access

Abstract

An experiment was carried out over successive years (1982 and 1983) to measure the extent to which live-weight advantage as a result of feeding in the dry season was maintained during the subsequent wet season at pasture. Two ages of Brahman steer (weaners and yearlings) were kept on three dry season treatments (molasses, sugar cane or grazing only) from January to May and then turned out to pasture as a single group until November. Although the molasses and sugar cane treatments produced significantly higher live-weight gains during the dry season the resultant weight advantage at turn-out was largely reduced during the wet season due to compensatory growth exhibited by previously restricted animals. Yearlings were less able to compensate than weaners.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1988

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Allden, W. G. 1970. The effects of nutritional deprivation on the subsequent productivity of sheep and cattle. Nutrition Abstracts and Reviews 40: 11671184.Google ScholarPubMed
Goodchild, A. V. 1980. Seasonal undernutrition of young cattle in the semi arid tropics. M. Phil. Thesis, University of Reading.Google Scholar
Norman, M. J. T. 1966. Katherine Research Station 1956-1964. A review of published works. Technical Paper, Division of Land Research, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, No. 28.Google Scholar
Preston, T. R. 1975. Sugar cane as the basis for intensive animal production in the tropics. Proceedings of the Conference on Animal Feeds of Tropical and Subtropical Origin, pp. 6983. Tropical Products Institute, London.Google Scholar
Reid, R. L., Post, A. J., Olsen, F. J. and Mljgerwa, J. S. 1973. Studies of the nutritional quality of grasses and legumes in Uganda. I. Application of in vitro digestibility techniques to species and stage of growth effects. Tropical Agriculture 50: 115.Google Scholar
Ruiz, M. E. 1976. New animal feeding systems based on the intensive use of tropical by-products. In First International Symposium, Feed Composition, Animal Nutrient Requirements and Computerization of Diets (ed. Fonnsbeck, P. V., Harris, L. E. and Kearl, L. C.), pp. 660666. Utah State University, Logan.Google Scholar
Snedecor, G. W. and Cochran, W. G. 1980. Statistical Methods 7th ed.Iowa State University Press, Ames, la.Google Scholar
University of Florida. 1974. Tablas de Composición de Alimentos de América Latina Florida University. Gainesville, Fla.Google Scholar
Wadsworth, J. 1984. Physical and economic performance of Brahman steers on three dry season feeding regimes under commercial conditions in Costa Rica. Tropical Animal Production 9: 2229.Google Scholar
Wadsworth, J. 1985. A model to evaluate the economic merits of dry season feeding of growing/fattening cattle in the sub-humid tropics. Agricultural Svstems 16: 85107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, P. N. and Osbourn, D. F. 1959. Compensatory growth after undernutrition in mammals and birds. Biological Reviews 35: 324363.CrossRefGoogle Scholar