Natural additives can replace the conventional growth promoters in cattle feedlot diet

Abstract

The objective of this research was to evaluate a natural additive to replace the conventional growth promoters in finishing beef cattle diets. Eighty Nellore bulls were assigned into two treatments, where the only difference was the additive used: either natural additive (N = Fator P (R) - 600 mg/ kg DM) and conventional growth promoters (C = control - 25 mg/kg DM of monensin + 20 mg/kg DM of virginiamycin). The diets contained 14.5% CP and 74.5% TDN. Nellore young bulls (n=80), weighing 436 +/- 4 kg, with an average age of 22 months, were used. The feedlot facilities contained 8 collective pens, in which 10 animals were allocated. The animal performance was evaluated for 102 days, with 21 days of adaptation. Means were compared by Tukey test (5%). There were no differences for DMI and ADG during the adaptation, post adaptation and total period of feedlot (P>0.05). On the other hand, the N group increased FER in the post adaptation period compared to C group (P=0.016), 116.4 and 111.6 g/kg/MS, respectively. The N does not affect performance and improves the FER. Thus, it can be concluded that the use of the natural feed additive can be used as an alternative to antibiotics in high concentrate diets for beef cattle in feedlot system.