Twenty crossbred bulls (1/2 and 3/4 Bos taurus x Bos indicus) averaging 24 months of age and 532 kg of body weight at the beginning of the experiment were used. Animals were randomly assigned to five treatments (four replicates/treatment) in a completely randomized design to evaluate the effect of replacing corn grain with a wet byproduct of cassava starch extraction on apparent digestibility of nutrients. Bulls were fed diets containing sorghum silage and one of the following levels of cassava byproduct in the concentrate: 0, 25, 50, 75 or 100%. No significant differences were observed for apparent digestibility of nutrients that averaged: 65.42% (dry matter), 68.30% (crude protein), 67.72% (ether extract), 49.58% (neutral detergent fiber), 50.71% (acid detergent fiber), and 81.79% (nonfiber carbohydrates). The contents of TDN (65.47%) and ME (2.36 Mcal/kg) also did not differ among diets. Only apparent digestibility of total carbohydrates differed across diets: Y= -0.0684N + 0.0015N² + 63.756; R² = 0.9122. Replacing corn grain with cassava byproduct did not change apparent digestibility of nutrients, except for total carbohydrates.
beef cattle; cassava byproduct; digestibility; energy; feeding; feedlot
