The intake and total apparent digestibility of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and nonfiber carbohydrate (NFC) with and without correction for ashes and crude protein, the weight gain, carcass yield and the food conversion were estimated in beef cattle fed with diets containing four dietary crude protein levels (10.5; 12; 13.5 and 15%), in dry matter base. There were used 24 non-castrated Zebus steers, with initial mean live weight of 398.4 kg, and allotted to randomized blocks design with four treatments and six replications. The experiment lasted 78 days and was divided in three periods of 21 days after 15 days of adaptation. The fecal production was estimated by the indigestible acid detergent fiber (iADF), after in situ incubation period for 144 hours. The dietary protein levels, except for the increased CP and the linearly decreased EE and NFC intakes, did not influence the nutrients intake. The total apparent digestibility of nutrients was not influenced by the diets, except for CP and EE, which presented positive and negative linear relations, respectively, with the inclusion of dietary crude protein. The daily mean gain of live weight, carcass yield and food conversion were not also influenced by the diets, recording means values of 1, 074 g/day, 51.43% and 10.01, respectively. Based on these results, it is recommended the use of 10.5% of CP in the diet for beef cattle, in the termination phase, with initial live weight close to 400 kg.
nonfiber carbohydrate; carcass yield; weight gain; crude protein; passage rate
