Table 1.
Composition and nutrient content of diets (% of dry matter basis, DM).
| Ingredients, % of DM | Treatments 1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CON | ACL | CCL | BZA | |
| Coastcross hay (Cynodon ssp.) | 6.00 | 6.00 | 6.00 | 6.00 |
| Ground corn | 77.43 | 77.27 | 77.30 | 76.97 |
| Soybean meal | 13.00 | 13.00 | 13.00 | 13.00 |
| Limestone | 1.80 | 1.70 | 1.30 | 1.70 |
| Urea | 1.14 | 0.90 | 1.14 | 1.20 |
| Calcium chloride 2 | - | - | 0.63 | - |
| Ammonium chloride 3 | - | 0.50 | - | - |
| Benzoic acid 4 | - | - | - | 0.50 |
| Mineral premix 5 | 0.40 | 0.60 | 0.40 | 0.60 |
| Sodium chloride | 0.20 | 0.00 | 0.20 | 0.00 |
| Selisseo 6 | 0.0013 | 0.0013 | 0.0013 | 0.0013 |
| Monensin 7 | 0.004 | 0.004 | 0.004 | 0.004 |
| Vitamin E 8 | 0.02 | 0.02 | 0.02 | 0.02 |
| Total | 100.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 |
| Nutrients, % of DM | ||||
| Total digestible nutrients 9 | 81.69 | 81.55 | 81.58 | 81.28 |
| Ether extract | 2.40 | 2.41 | 2.54 | 2.49 |
| Crude protein | 17.24 | 17.39 | 17.22 | 17.36 |
| Rumen degradable protein | 10.90 | 10.22 | 10.90 | 11.04 |
| Neutral detergent fiber | 23.18 | 24.36 | 26.71 | 24.10 |
| Calcium | 0.77 | 0.76 | 0.77 | 0.76 |
| Phosphorus | 0.40 | 0.41 | 0.40 | 0.41 |
| Sodium | 0.10 | 0.09 | 0.10 | 0.09 |
| Potassium | 0.69 | 0.69 | 0.68 | 0.69 |
| Chlorine | 0.17 | 0.40 | 0.48 | 0.05 |
| Sulfur | 0.19 | 0.19 | 0.19 | 0.19 |
| Diet cation–anionic balance 10, mEq/kg | +52.52 | −17.10 | −36.99 | +81.52 |
1 CON: control without additive; ACL: ammonium chloride; CCL; calcium chloride; BZA: benzoic acid. 2 Kemin calcium chloride (Kemin, Verona, MO, USA): chlorine—49%, calcium—31%. 3 Ammonium chloride BASF. 4 Eastman Protural TM BA (Eastman, Madrid, Spain): benzoic acid—99.8%. 5 Coplasal Ovinos® (Coplacana, Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil) calcium 155 g, phosphorus 83 g, magnesium—10 g, sulfur—35 g, sodium—120 g, copper—756 mg, magnesium—2110 mg, zinc—2800 mg, iodine—56 mg, cobalt—44 mg, selenium—14 mg, fluorine—250 mg. 6 Selisseo® (Adisseo, Antony, Altos do Sena, France). 7 Rumenpac® (Mcassab, São Paulo, Brazil): minimum monensin 200 mg/kg. 8 Microvit® E Promix 50 (Adisseo, Antony, Altos do Sena, France): 500 IU/g, α-tocopherol. 9 Estimated according to Weiss et al. [14]. 10 Diet cation–anionic balance in mEq/kg = (% Na/0.0023 + % K/0.0039) − (% Cl/0.00355 + % S/0.00160).