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Effects of different maternal nutrition approaches on weight gain and on adipose and muscle tissue development of young bulls in the rearing phase

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Abstract

This study evaluated the effects of prenatal nutrition on body weight (BW), average daily gain (ADG), rump fat thickness (RFT), backfat thickness (BFT), ribeye area (REA), muscle cell area (MCA), and the number of cells in REA (NCREA) of young Nellore bulls during the rearing period. After pregnancy confirmation (30 days of pregnancy), 126 Nellore cows were separated into three prenatal nutritional treatments (NP (control; 0.03% of BW), only mineral supplementation; PP (0.3% of BW), protein-energy supplementation in the final third; and FP (0.3% of BW) protein-energy supplementation during the entire pregnancy). After calving, all animals were submitted to the same environmental conditions (sanitary and nutritional) and the different supplementation protocols ceased. The males (63 bulls) were evaluated during the entire rearing phase (210 ± 28 days to 540 ± 28 days of age) to weight gain (BW and ADG), carcass characteristics (RFT, BFT, and REA), and for histological assessments (MCA and NCREA; 7 animals per treatment randomly selected). All phenotypes were subjected to an analysis of variance. The different prenatal stimuli had no effect on BFT, RFT, MCA, and NCREA (P > 0.05); however, prenatal nutrition influenced BW of the animals during the rearing phase (P < 0.01) and showed a tendency on ADG (P = 0.09) and REA (P = 0.08). In conclusion, the offspring from FP treatment showed greater BW during the rearing phase in comparison to the NP group. This is related to a greater protein offered in prenatal nutrition, increasing muscle development during the gestational period.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

The authors acknowledge the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) (grant’s numbers 2019/02310–3, 2017/12105–2), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) (grant’s number 432270/2018–3), and the College of Animal Science and Food Engineering (FZEA-USP).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Animal Science, GOPec, College of Animal Science and Food Engineering – USP, Av. Duque de Caxias Norte, 225, Pirassununga, SP, 13635-900, Brazil

    Guilherme Henrique Gebim Polizel, Roberta Cavalcante Cracco, Arícia Christofaro Fernandes, Cassiano Bordignon Zuca, Henrique Hespanhol Castellar, Geovana Camila Baldin & Miguel Henrique de Almeida Santana

  2. Department of Veterinary Medicine, College of Animal Science and Food Engineering – USP, Av. Duque de Caxias Norte, 225, Pirassununga, SP, 13635-900, Brazil

    Ricardo de Francisco Strefezzi

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  1. Guilherme Henrique Gebim Polizel
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  2. Ricardo de Francisco Strefezzi
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  3. Roberta Cavalcante Cracco
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  4. Arícia Christofaro Fernandes
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  8. Miguel Henrique de Almeida Santana
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Contributions

Conceptualization: G.H.G.P.; data curation: G.H.G.P. and R.F.S.; formal analysis: G.H.G.P.; funding acquisition: M.H.A.S. and G.H.G.P.; investigation: G.H.G.P., C.B.Z., H.H.C., and G.C.B.; methodology: R.F.S., M.H.A.S., R.C.C., and A.C.F.; project administration: M.H.A.S., G.H.G.P., A.C.F., and R.C.C.; writing—original draft: G.H.G.P.; writing—review and editing: M.H.A.S., R.F.S., C.B.Z., H.H.C., G.C.B., R.C.C., and A.C.F.

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Correspondence to Guilherme Henrique Gebim Polizel.

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The Research Ethics Committee of the College of Animal Science and Food Engineering from São Paulo University approved this study, under protocol No. 1843241117, according to the guidelines of the National Council for the Control of Animal Experimentation (CONCEA).

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Polizel, G.H.G., de Francisco Strefezzi, R., Cracco, R.C. et al. Effects of different maternal nutrition approaches on weight gain and on adipose and muscle tissue development of young bulls in the rearing phase. Trop Anim Health Prod 53, 536 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-021-02982-y

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