Effects of pre- and postpartum supplementation on lactational and reproductive performance of grazing Nellore beef cows
Daniel Mageste de Almeida
A , Marcos Inácio Marcondes A C , Luciana Navajas Rennó A , Leandro Soares Martins A , David Esteban Contreras Marquez A , Felipe Velez Saldarriaga A , Faider Alberto Castaño Villadiego B , Roman Maza Ortega A , Deilen Paff Sotelo Moreno A , Felipe Henrique de Moura A , Camila Soares Cunha A and Mário Fonseca Paulino A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Department of Animal Science, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, 36570-900, Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
B Department of Veterinary Medicine, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, 36570-900, Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
C Corresponding author. Email: marcos.marcondes@ufv.br
Animal Production Science 61(2) 101-107 https://doi.org/10.1071/AN18251
Submitted: 14 April 2018 Accepted: 17 September 2020 Published: 22 October 2020
Abstract
Context: Few studies have evaluated the effects of providing concentrate pre- or postpartum, or during both of these intervals, to beef cows grazing tropical pastures, even though this information is important for planning breeder herd management.
Aims: A study was undertaken to examine the effects of supplementation with concentrates before calving (prepartum), after calving (postpartum) or during both these intervals on production and reproductive efficiency in Bos indicus beef cows grazing Urochloa decumbens pasture.
Methods: Nellore cows, initially 6 months pregnant (mean ± s.e.), weighing 516 ± 1.3 kg and body condition score 4.7 ± 0.15 (1–9 scale), were used in an experiment with four treatments in a 2 × 2 factorial design with 20 animals per treatment. The treatments comprised no supplementation or provision of a supplement (1 kg/cow.day containing 28% crude protein) for 90 days prepartum only, 90 days postpartum only or during the pre- and postpartum intervals.
Key results: Responses could be described in terms of the main effects of providing the supplement pre- or post-calving; the interactions were not significant (P > 0.05). Prepartum supplements increased the cow bodyweight at calving by 29 kg, and calf birthweight by 3.7 kg (P < 0.05). Supplementation increased (P < 0.05) the final bodyweight, average daily gain and final body condition score of the cows. Postpartum supplementation tended to increase milk yield (P = 0.065), and increased milk protein concentration (P < 0.05). Prepartum supplementation increased serum urea nitrogen, glucose and progesterone, and reduced non-esterified fatty acids (P < 0.05) and β-hydroxybutyrate concentrations (P < 0.05) during lactation. Postpartum supplementation, but not prepartum supplementation, increased the conception rate (P < 0.05).
Conclusion: In mature Nellore cows grazing Urochloa decumbens pasture, prepartum supplementation with 1 kg/cow.day of concentrate with body condition score >4 did not change the response to postpartum supplementation.
Implications: Prepartum supplementation may increase cow performance and calf weight at birth, whereas postpartum supplementation may improve the reproductive efficiency.
Keywords: animal nutrition, beef cattle, supplementation, tropical pastures.
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