LAUSR

Abstract In Brazil, the beef cattle are widely raised in pasture post weaning, but the supplementation has been studied only in individual phases of the animal's growth curve. Therefore, the objective of this study was evaluated the nutritional interrelationship between the growing and finishing phases in the performance of Nellore bulls. Eighty-four weaned calves (body weight [BW] = 205 ± 4.7 kg; 8 months) raised on pasture during the growing phase (dry season, summer and autumn) and finished in feedlot were used. The experiment was conducted as a randomized block design with a 2 × 2 × 3 factorial arrangement of treatments. Factors included 1) two supplements levels in the dry season (protein [1 g/kg BW/day - PR1] or protein-energy [3 g/kg BW/day - PE] supplement); 2) two supplement levels in summer (mineral supplement [ ad libitum - MS] or protein supplement [1 g/kg BW/day - PR2]); and three supplement levels in autumn (MS, PR2 or PE). The animals were finished with a common diet. The dry season supplementation affected the average daily gain (ADG) in the summer (P