Ezequiel et al., 2006. Rev. Bras. Zootec., 35 (2): 569-575

The objective of this trial was to study the partial replacement of ground maize with soyabean hulls or maize germ meal in diets containing sunflower meal and urea as nitrogen sources and maize silage as forage for confined Nelore steers. 21 steers, with an average age of 25 months and initial body weight of 343 kg, were assigned to diets containing a forage:concentrate ratio of 60:40. The period for measurements of intake and weight gain lasted for 97 days. Insignificant differences were observed for intakes of dry matter (10.78, 9.73 and 10.62 kg/day), crude protein (1.40, 1.22 and 1.41 kg/day) and neutral detergent fibre (3.41, 3.89 and 3.60 kg/day), respectively, for diets containing ground maize, soyabean hulls and maize germ meal. However, intake of acid detergent fibre was highest (0.71% BW) for steers consuming the diet wherein soyabean hulls replaced 70% of ground maize. Weight gain did not differ among diets, averaging 1.35, 1.29 and 1.32 kg/day in steers fed ground maize, soyabean seed hulls and maize germ meal, respectively. Moreover, insignificant differences were observed in feed conversion (7.88 kg of DMI/kg of weight gain), feed efficiency (0.12 weight gain/kg of DMI) and carcass dressing (54.52%) among the treatments. It was concluded that soyabean hulls and maize germ meal could partially replace ground maize in diets for confined steers, because both production and carcass dressing were maintained.