Table 3.
Nutritional profile of the forage (Brachiaria brizantha cv. Marandu) offered to the herd throughout the experimental period (98 d)1
| Day of the study | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Item | 0 | 20 | 40 | 60 | 80 |
| Dry matter, % | 83.7 | 77.2 | 77.9 | 80.0 | 74.9 |
| Crude protein, % DM | 11.5 | 13.6 | 13.2 | 10.5 | 11.5 |
| Neutral detergent fiber, % DM | 58.1 | 64.4 | 62.0 | 65.9 | 63.9 |
| Acid detergent fiber, % DM | 38.2 | 38.3 | 37.6 | 41.5 | 37.8 |
| Hemicellulose, % DM2 | 19.9 | 26.1 | 24.4 | 24.4 | 26.1 |
| Cellulose, % DM | 12.1 | 19.3 | 18.1 | 15.9 | 19.4 |
| Lignin, % DM | 7.8 | 6.8 | 6.3 | 8.5 | 6.7 |
| Ether extract, % DM | 4.5 | 3.6 | 3.9 | 3.7 | 3.6 |
| Total digestible nutrients, % DM3 | 47.0 | 46.1 | 47.3 | 44.1 | 49.2 |
1Samples were collected every 20 d.
2Hemicellulose was calculated as the subtraction between neutral and acid detergent fiber.
3Total digestible nutrients were calculated according to equation proposed by Weiss et al. (1992).