The objective of this work was to evaluate the performance of ¾ European x ¼ Zebu crossbred bulls of British or Continental paternal breed, fed high concentrate diets containing 9, 15 or 21% of the dry matter (DM) with sugarcane bagasse (BIN) in a 2 x 3 factorial arrangement. Thirty-six crossbred bulls, 9 months old and 257 kg of shrink body weight were fed, two per pen, for 139 days. There was no difference in shrink body weight gain between the two genetic groups, the British animals gaining 1.24 kg/d and the Continentals 1.29 kg/d. The efficiency of feed conversion was also the same, 0.17. The 15% BIN animals showed higher rates of gain (1.36 kg/d) than the 9% BIN animals (1.20 kg/d). The final weight of the British animals (428.1 kg) did not differ from the Continental bulls (438.4 kg) as well as the dry matter intake (respectively 7.20; 7.54 kg/d). Among the three roughage levels, the highest final weight was for the 15% BIN animals (448.7 kg), the lowest for the 21% BIN(424.8 kg). The highest dry matter intake was for the 15% BIN treatment (7.93 kg DM/d) and the lowest for the 9% BIN (6.85 kg DM/d). These results suggest that high concentrate diets with levels as low as 9% of BIN can be used.
bulls; feedlot; fiber; high concentrate; sugarcane bagasse; roughage
