The performance of beef heifers in black oat (Avena strigosa Schreb.) plus ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) pasture was evaluated in this trial. The treatments evaluated were: 'No Supplement'- animals in black oat plus ryegrass pasture; 'Increasing' - animals in black oat plus ryegrass pasture, receiving increasing levels of supplement (wheat bran): 0.3; 0.6; 0.9; 1.2 to 1.5% body weight (BW) during the pasture cycle; 'Fixed' - animals in black oat plus ryegrass pasture, fed 0.9% BW of supplement during all pasture cycle; and 'Decreasing' - animals in black oat plus ryegrass pasture, receiving decreasing levels of supplement: 1.5; 1.2; 0.9; 0.6 a 0.3% of BW during the pasture cycle. The grazing period was within July 13 to November 1st and the grazing method was continuous with variable stocking rate. The variables invetigated were: average daily gain (ADG), body condition (BC), stocking rate (SR) and per area weight gain (AWG). Supplementation or the different supplement level s showed no effect on the evaluated traits. ADG, SR and AWG changed with the pasture cycle. ADG had quadratic behavior, increasing until 62° day, represented by the following equation: ADG=0.360+0.025day-0.0002day2 (R²=0.59). The mean ADG value was 0.937 kg/animal/day. SR increased linearly during the grazing period, whereas no effect of grazing period on BC was detected.
Avena strigosa; wheat bran; Lolium multiflorum; continuous grazing
