SUMMARY An experiment was conducted in Santa Maria - RS, Brazil, to evaluate the components (whole grain, empty grain, broken grain, rice hulls, straws, barnyard grain seeds, dust and small particles) and chemical composition (crude protein and digestibility) of rice grain screenings and its use for feeding Holstein heifers, in comparison with deoiled rice bran (1% of live weight based in dry matter) and grazing setaria (Setaria spp.) grass pasture. The results of chemical composition analysis indicated that there was significant difference (P < 0.05) between the components in two years evaluation, but the quality of the rice grain screenings was similar during this period. The weight gains were 0.282kg/head/day for rice screenings and 0.376kg/head/day for deoiled rice bran which did not show significant difference (P < 0.05) between the two complements.
rice grain screenings; evaluation of by-product; feeding dairy heifers
