Table 6.

Total intake of premix and trace minerals from day 0 to 45 and liver concentrations of trace minerals 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 × day	Treatment
Total intake2, day 0 to 45	---------------------------- g (DM basis) -----------------
Trace mineral premix	95	98	96	106	13	-	0.92
Cu	2.58	2.60	2.61	2.83	0.122	-	0.45
Fe	55.9	55.6	56.4	59.3	1.75	-	0.47
Mn	3.12	3.13	3.15	3.35	1.08	-	0.42
Se	0.04	0.04	0.04	0.05	0.001	-	0.56
Zn	13.8	14.0	13.9	15.0	0.62	-	0.55
Liver concentration3	--------------------------- mg/kg (DM basis) ------------
Cu	535	502	562	529	41	0.40	0.78
Fe	714	621	657	656	42	0.96	0.47
Mn	8.9	9.3	8.8	9.2	0.29	0.23	0.59
Mo	2.8	3.1	3.1	2.9	0.10	0.96	0.13
Se	0.59	0.64	0.61	0.65	0.036	0.13	0.61
Zn	166	171	170	188	11.4	0.55	0.49

^a,bWithin 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 as the total supplement and hay DMI from day 0 to 45 multiplied by the respective average concentration of each trace mineral from supplement and hay obtained every 15-d period.

³Liver concentrations of all trace minerals were not included as covariates (P ≥ 0.22). Means shown above represent the average liver concentration of the respective trace mineral obtained on day 0 and 45.