Table 1.
Composition and nutritional profile of the total mixed ration offered ad libitum to the heifers.
| Items | Periods | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| d 0 to 7 | d 8 to 14 | d 15 to 21 | d 22 to 150 | |
| Composition, dry matter (DM) basis | ||||
| Grass silage 1, % | 80.7 | 66.3 | 43.1 | 12.0 |
| Sugar cane bagasse, % | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 7.16 |
| Ground corn, % | 10.0 | 24.9 | 37.7 | 59.7 |
| Soybean hull, % | 6.00 | 4.14 | 13.5 | 14.3 |
| Soybean meal, % | 1.60 | 2.48 | 2.70 | 2.60 |
| Commercial mix 2, % | 1.70 | 2.24 | 3.00 | 4.29 |
| Nutritional profile 3, (DM) basis | ||||
| CP, % | 9.61 | 10.8 | 12.5 | 14.0 |
| Ash, % | 7.89 | 6.93 | 5.81 | 4.10 |
| EE, % | 2.27 | 3.02 | 3.74 | 4.86 |
| NDF % | 63.4 | 53.5 | 45.9 | 32.5 |
| ADF, % | 39.9 | 33.0 | 28.1 | 19.3 |
| TDN 4, % | 53.9 | 59.0 | 66.1 | 73.9 |
| Nem 5, Mcal/kg | 1.37 | 1.45 | 1.54 | 1.63 |
| Neg 5, Mcal/kg | 0.79 | 0.86 | 0.96 | 1.04 |
1 Panicum maximum cv. Tanzânia; 2 Nutriforte Concentrado Confinamento (Nutriforte, Dourados, MS. Brazil). Composition: crude protein (CP) = 90%; total digestible nutrients (TDN) = 67%; ether extract (EE) = 0.7; calcium = 0.25%; phosphorus = 0.14%; sodium = 0.25%, potassium = 8500 mg/kg; cobalt = 1.0 mg/kg; selenium = 2.0 mg/kg; zinc = 450 mg/kg; and sodium monensin = 600 mg/kg; 3 neutral detergent fiber (NDF); acid detergent fiber (ADF), net energy for maintenance (NEm) and gain (NEg); 4 calculated as proposed by Weiss et al. (1992); 5 calculated using the equations proposed by the NASEM (2016).