Effect of frequency of protein-energetic supplementation on the performance and ingestive behavior of Nellore calves kept in a tropical pasture in the dry season

With the objective to evaluate different frequencies of supplementation on the performance and ingestive behavior of Nellore calves kept on Urochloa brizantha cv. Marandu pasture, 56 animals with initial average body weight (BW) of 174.5 kg were submitted to the following treatments: no supplement and 1x, 3x, and 7x supplementation per week. The supplement was provided in the amount of 3.5 g kg(-1) of BW day(-1). BW and evaluation of behavior were assessed every 28 days. The randomized block's design with two repetitions was used. The analyses of variance were carried out by the GLM procedure in the SAS software, and the means were compared by the Tukey's test at 5% significance. The supplementation increased the average daily gain (ADG; P <= 0.05); however, it did not differ between frequencies (0.005, 0.190, 0.183, and 0.177 kg head(-1) day for the no supplement treatment and 1x, 3x, and 7x per week, respectively). The animals in the no supplement treatment showed longer grazing time (P <= 0.05) compared to those receiving the supplement. However, results did not differ between frequencies (10.44, 8.57, 8.32, and 8.59 hours day-1 for no supplement treatments and 1x, 3x, and 7x per week, respectively). Thus, the frequency of supplementation can be reduced to once a week without reducing animal performance.