The objective of this trial was to study the effect of forage defoliation intensity and energy or protein supplementation on chewing activity of beef cattle. Eight Nellore steers fitted with ruminal cannula were used in a rotational grazing system of tanzaniagrass (Panicum maximum Jacq.) with 33 days of resting and three days of grazing. Additional steers were allowed to access the pasture before those with ruminal cannula to maintain the green dry matter (GDM) residue at 1,000 or 4,000 kg/ha as pre-planned. Steers were divided into two equal groups (1,000 or 4,000 kg GMD/ha) in the paddock and within each group randomly assigned to treatments in two replicated 4 x 4 Latin squares. Treatments were: no supplement (control), 2.24 kg/day of coarsely ground corn (CGC), 2.24 kg/day of steam flaked corn (SFC), or 0.8 kg/day of soybean meal (SBM). In each of the three days of grazing, chewing activity was monitored during 24 h with observations registered every 5 minutes during the day and every 15 minutes at night. Only rumination time was reduced by supplementation. Time spent grazing (470.6 vs. 354.3 minutes/day) and ruminating (408.5 vs. 319.1 minutes/day) were increased while idle time was reduced on steers maintained residue at 1,000 kg GMD/ha compared to those at 4,000 kg GMD/ha. Neither supplementation nor the interaction GDM residue x supplementation significantly affected the eating behavior of steers in this trial. Intensity of forage defoliation was more effective than suplementation on changing chewing activity of steers.
bovine; rotational grazing; supplementation; tropical grass
