This study was aimed to investigate the effects of rumen-protected -aminobutyric acid (RP-GABA) on apparent nutrient digestibility, growth performance and health status in heat stressed beef cattle. Fifty Jinjiang Yellow cattle were randomly assigned to 5 treatments (10 animals/treatment). Treatments 1 to 5 were basal diets affixed with 0 (control), 8, 16, 24 and 32mg of RP-GABA/kg of body weight (BW) respectively. The trial lasted 45days. Apparent digestibility of crude protein (CP), crude fiber (CF) and calcium (Ca) quadratically increased with increasing RP-GABA (p<.01), while apparent digestibility of phosphorus (P) tended to quadratically increase (p=.09). Dietary supplementation with increasing RP-GABA linearly increased DM digestibility and average daily gain (ADG) (p<.01), whereas the feed to gain (F:G) ratio linearly decreased with increasing RP-GABA (p<.01). The average daily feed intake (ADFI) value tended to linearly increase with RP-GABA supplementation (p=.08). Total protein (TP), blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels quadratically decreased (p<.01) with increasing RP-GABA, however albumin (ALB), glucose (GLU), superoxide dismutase (SOD), triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4) levels quadratically increased (p.01). In conclusion, the present results indicated that dietary supplementation with RP-GABA led to improved nutrient digestibility, growth performance and antioxidant status in heat stressed beef cattle.
