. 2018 Nov 14;3(1):523–531. doi: 10.1093/tas/txy123

Table 4.

Total nutrient intake and overall feed efficiency of Nellore heifers offered free choice access to warm-season grass hay and receiving trace mineral supplement (TM), sugarcane molasses cooked block (LMB), pair-fed protein supplement (PSPF), and a commercial protein supplement (PS) from day 0 to 45 (n = 100 heifers; five heifers/pen; five pens/treatment)¹

	Treatment¹					P-value
Item	TM	LMB	PSPF	PS	SEM	Treatment
Total intake day 0 to 45², kg
DM
Hay	182	180	184	191	5.7	0.61
Supplement	2.56^a	3.94^b	3.87^b	17.4^c	0.208	<0.0001
Total	185^a	184^a	188^a	208^b	5.8	0.04
TDN
Hay	84.3	83.5	85.1	88.3	2.63	0.60
Supplement	0^a	1.99^b	1.97^b	9.27^c	0.156	<0.0001
Total	84.3^a	85.4^a	87.0^a	97.6^b	2.48	0.009
CP
Hay	10.5	10.4	10.6	11.0	0.33	0.62
Supplement	0^a	1.81^b	1.79^b	4.35^c	0.145	<0.0001
Total	10.5^a	12.2^b	12.4^b	14.4^c	0.37	<0.0001
RDP
Hay	8.9	8.9	9.0	9.4	0.28	0.59
Supplement	0^a	1.69^b	1.71^b	3.64^c	0.138	<0.0001
Total	8.9^a	10.6^b	10.7^b	12.0^c	0.33	<0.0001
RUP
Hay	1.58	1.56	1.59	1.65	0.049	0.62
Supplement	0^a	0.12^c	0.08^b	0.71^d	0.009	<0.0001
Total	1.58^a	1.69^a	1.67^a	2.37^b	0.052	<0.0001
Overall G:F day 0 to 45³	0.049	0.063	0.058	0.055	0.007	0.52

^a–cWithin a row, means without a common superscript differed (P ≤ 0.05).

¹TM = a complete vitamin/trace mineral mix supplement offered in a loose meal form (66.6% of LMB supplement DMI); LMB = free choice access to a low-moisture, cooked sugarcane molasses-based block; PSPF = protein supplement offered in a loose meal form and pair-fed to achieve similar supplement intake of DM, TDN, and CP of LMB heifers; PS = a commercial protein supplement offered in a loose meal form at 0.2% of BW (DM basis).

²Calculated using sum of the average intake of each respective nutrient from hay and supplement at each 15-d interval.

³Calculated by dividing total BW gain by total DMI from day 0 to 45.