Uso de fontes orgânica e inorgânica de enxofre na dieta de bovinos

Abstract

Beef cattle is responsible for a large portion of food production in the world. One of the main strategies to improve cattle breeding is feeding, with minerals playing an important role for diet supplementation. Sulfur is characterized as a macromineral, due to its requirement in cattle, and has several vital functions, therefore, it must often be supplemented in the diet. The present study aimed to compare the inorganic source of sulfur (sulfur flower) with an organic source (sulfur chelate) and their different levels of supplementation performance of ½ Nellore x ½ Aberdeen Angus heifers submitted to a feed lot system.Thus, 24 heifers aged between 13 and 16 months, with an average initial weight of 230 kg, were randomly distributed into four treatments: recommended daily dose (6.72 g) of sulfur from the sulfur flower; recommended daily dose (6.72 g) from sulfur chelate; 50% of the recommended dose of sulfur (3.36 g) from sulfur chelate and 75% of the recommended daily allowance (5.04 g) from sulfur chelate. During the 90-day experimental period, a diet consisting of 81% concentrate and 19% forage was provided in an amount equivalent to 2% of the live weight in the dry matter of each heifer. There were no significant differences between treatments for animal performance, feed conversion and feed efficiency. Treatment with an organic source of sulfur at half the recommended daily dose showed a reduction of 29.7% in fecal sulfur excretion. In conclusion, the use of half the dose of sulfur in the organic form (sulfur chelate) can be an option to reduce the inclusion of the mineral element in the diet of beef cattle, since the animals submitted to half the dose of sulfur chelate reached the same animal performance of the group submitted to the recommended daily dose of the inorganic source of sulfur.