behavior patterns of cows with charolais or nellore breed predominance fed diets with plant extract or monensin sodium

The objective of this research was to study the ingestive behavior of feedlot cows fed additives based on plant extracts or monensin sodium. Twenty-four Charolais and Nellore crossbred cows with age and average initial weight of 7 years and 423 kg, respectively, were used. The experimental diets were plant extracts: basal diet + 5 g/animal/day of a natural additive composed of 750 mg of essential oil of thyme (Thymus vulgaris), 150 mg of garlic (Allium sativum), 250 mg of rosemary extract (Rosmarimus officinalis), 250 mg of canola oil (Brassica napus), 250 mg extract of quillaja (Quillaja saponaria), and 3350 mg of corn starch; sodium monensin: basal diet + 300 mg/monensin/animal/day; and control: basal diet without additive. The basal diet contained sorghum silage and concentrate in a 62:38 ratio. The experimental design was completely randomized with a 3 × 2 (3 diets and 2 breed predominances) factorial arrangement, and means were compared using DMS test at 5% of significance. The type of additive consumed did not alter animal feeding behavior. Cows with Charolais predominance consumed more dry matter (13.78 vs. 12.38 kg/day) and neutral detergent fiber (7.81 vs. 6.89 kg/day), ruminated for longer (8.47 vs. 7.82 h), spent more time chewing (13.05 vs 12.01 h), had a greater number of chews per minute (58.88 vs 53.21) and a greater number of ruminal bolus (541.43 vs. 464.09 boluses/day); however, cows with Nellore predominance had greater idling time (11.82 vs. 10.74 h).