Nutritional requirements of cattle: a tool productivity of favor

Abstract

The objective of this study was to conduct a review of the importance of determining the nutritional requirements of cattle. The main requirements to be determined are protein, energy and minerals which can be subdivided into requirements for maintenance and gain. The determination of these variables may be done by comparing the slaughter animal or calorimetry. In Brazil the most widely used technique is the comparative slaughter and only two studies that used calorimetry to measure energy requirements in cattle. Comparing these two methods, it highlights the major drawback of comparative slaughter: the high cost due to the loss of the animal. Despite the considerable number of works on the subject are still needed a higher volume of work with the races most used in Brazil. In addition, there is a lack of data nutritional requirements determined by the technique of calorimetry respirometry.