In order to evaluate different levels of sugar cane bagasse and urea as replacement of soybean meal in growing dairy cattle diets, two trials were conducted. In the first, twenty crossbreed bull calves (Holstein x Zebu) were allotted in a completely randomized design with four treatments. The animals were fed forage cactus based diets, containing levels of 5.5, 14.4, 24.4 and 34% of sugar cane bagasse on the dry matter basis. The liveweight gain decreased while the feed: gain ratio, FDN and FDA intakes increased linearly in function of the increased level of sugar cane bagasse. The maximum daily dry matter intake of 2.73% of LW was estimated with 30% of sugar cane bagasse in the diet. In the second, was evaluated the partial replacement of soybean meal (SM) by urea plus corn cracked (UC) in forage cactus based diets on the crossbreed (Holstein x Zebu) heifers performance. Twenty animals were fed diets containing four levels (0, 20, 40 and 60%) of replacement of SM by UC. There was no significant effect of partial replacement of soybean meal by urea plus corn cracked on crossbreed heifers performance.
intake; feed; average daily gain; forage cactus
