ChileanJAR

At the Remehue Exp. Sta. (INIA-Osorno, Chile), fourty nine Frisian steers (410 kg L. W.) were used in a 107 days winter feeding trial, to evaluate the effect on animal performance of rapeseed meal and oat grain supplementation, using pasture silage as a base feed. Oats weere used al 0, 2, 4, and 6 kg/animal and rapeseed meal at 0.2 and 4 kg/animal and rapeseed meal at 0.3 Kg/100 kg of L. W., daily. Steers were supplemented with minerals (140 g/steers/day), and penned in fattening stalls provided with concrete and ground floor. Feed intake increased lightly when the levels of supplementation increased. There were not significant interactions (P > 0.05); levels of rapeseed meal did not show significant differences on daily L. W. gains and oat levels affected L. W. gain (0.79b, 1.07a, 1.02a, and 1.07a; P < 0.05). The good response with 0 kg of oats, is explained by the high quality of the pasture silage. A level of 2 kg oats/animal/day was enough to obtain a good animal performance (> 1kg/dia L. W. gains/head). The dressing percentages varied between 55% with 0 kg of oats and 57%, when supplements were used (significant differences, P < 0.05)