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Strategies of virginiamycin supplementation in the postweaning phase on growth performance and carcass quality of beef cattle

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Abstract

The present study evaluated the effects of supplementing VM in grazing cattle during the rearing phase on performance and carcass quality of beef cattle in the finishing phase. Two experiments with a randomized block design were conducted in consecutive years to contrast two post-weaning supplementation strategies using VM at 45 mg/100 kg body weight (BW). In the first year, treatments were protein supplement in the dry season and mineral supplement in the rainy season versus the addition of VM both in the protein and mineral supplements. In the second year, was contrasted with protein supplement in the dry season and protein-energy supplement in the rainy season. Performance, carcass traits, and carcass quality were evaluated at the end of both phases. In Year 1, adding VM in mineral supplement increased final backfat thickness (P=0.05), backfat gain (P=0.06), final rump fat thickness (P=0.02), and rump fat gain (P=0.01). In the finishing phase, VM-treated cattle had a greater dry matter intake (P=0.03) and tended to show a greater backfat thickness than non-treated cattle (P=0.07). In Year 2, no VM effects were observed on post-weaning phase performance and carcass traits. However, cattle-fed VM during the post-weaning phase tended to show a lower feed conversion ratio (P=0.09) and had a significantly higher gross feed efficiency (P=0.03) than non-treated cattle at slaughter. Virginiamycin supplementation during rearing on pasture improves performance and carcass fattening in the growth phase and has a residual effect in the finishing phase that may reflect greater backfat thickness and gross feed efficiency.

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Data availability

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

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Acknowledgements

Connan Animal Nutrition (Boituva, SP, Brazil) for providing supplements.

Funding

This work was supported by Foundation to Support the Development of Teaching, Science, and Technology of the state of Mato Grosso do Sul (FUNDECT), grant numbers 123/2014 and 037/2015, and National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), grant number 476203/2013-9. Author R. da C. Gomes has received research support from companies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Embrapa Beef Cattle, 830 Radio Maia Avenue, Campo Grande, MS, Brazil

    Rodrigo da Costa Gomes, Gilberto Romeiro de Oliveira Menezes, Gelson Luis Dias Feijó, Denise Baptaglin Montagner & Roberto Augusto de Almeida Torres Júnior

  2. Department of Animal Science, State University of Londrina – UEL, km 380 Celso Garcia Cid Road, Londrina, PR, Brazil

    Ricardo Favero & Ivone Yurika Mizubuti

  3. Department of Animal Science and Rural Development, Federal University of Santa Catarina – UFSC, 1346 Admar Gonzaga Road, Florianópolis, SC, Brazil

    Ricardo Kazama & Georg Altrak

  4. College of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul – UFMS, 2446 Sen. Filinto Müler Avenue, Campo Grande, MS, Brazil

    Marina de Nadai Bonin Gomes

  5. Department of Animal Science, Federal Rural University of Semi-Arid – UFERSA, 572 Francisco Mota Street, Mossoró, RN, Brazil

    Thiago Luís Alves Campos de Araújo & Dorgival Morais de Lima Júnior

  6. Connan Animal Nutrition, 877 Mário Pedro Vercellino Avenue, Boituva, Brazil

    Márcio de Nadai Bonin

Authors
  1. Rodrigo da Costa Gomes
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  7. Marina de Nadai Bonin Gomes
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  10. Thiago Luís Alves Campos de Araújo
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  13. Márcio de Nadai Bonin
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Contributions

R. da C. Gomes: conceptualization, resources, project administration, methodology, writing - original draft, funding acquisition; G. R. de O. Menezes: resources, formal analysis, methodology, writing - original draft; R. Favero, and G. Altrak: investigation, data curation, writing - original draft; R. Kazama, I. Mizubuti, M. de N. Bonin, G. L. D. Feijó, D. B. Montagner, and R. A. de A. Torres Júnior: conceptualization, resources, visualization, supervision; T. L. A. C. de Araújo and D. M. de Lima Júnior: writing - original draft, writing - review & editing; M. de N. Bonin: conceptualization; resources, funding acquisition.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thiago Luís Alves Campos de Araújo.

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All experimental procedures were approved by the local Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (protocol #12/2014).

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Gomes, R.d., Menezes, G.R.d., Favero, R. et al. Strategies of virginiamycin supplementation in the postweaning phase on growth performance and carcass quality of beef cattle. Trop Anim Health Prod 56, 12 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-023-03860-5

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