SUPLEMENTAÇÃO DE CULTURA DE LEVEDURAS EM ASSOCIAÇÃO COM COMPLEXO ENZIMÁTICO NA DIETA DE NOVILHOS CONFINADOS

Abstract

The objective was to evaluate the productive performance, apparent digestibility of the diet and ingestive behavior of beef cattle finished in feedlot under the effect of inclusion of yeast culture or enzyme complex. The treatments were: diet without additives; diet with enzyme complex; diet with yeast culture and diet with the association of enzyme complex and yeast culture. The experimental design was randomized, with five repetitions. We used 40 whole, ½ Angus and ½ Nelore steers, with average initial live weight of 362 kg ± 6 kg. Regardless of the evaluation period, non-supplementation caused the animals to gain less weight (0 to 21 days: 1.267 kg day-1; 0 to 42 days: 1.377 kg day-1; 0 to 63 days: 1.368 kg day-1) compared to supplemented animals, and feed conversion for non-supplemented animals was also worse. The apparent starch digestibility showed higher averages when the calves were supplemented with yeast culture alone and with yeast culture associated with enzyme complex (97.30% and 97.07%, respectively). The supplementation in the form of association of yeast culture to the enzyme complex did not show additional effects on weight gain, but had the lowest averages for feed conversion.