Diurnal ingestive behavior of Nellore steers receiving increasing levels from supplement in pasture of Brachiaria brizantha

The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the diurnal ingetive behavior Nellores steers with increasing levels of energy and protein supplemention by raising in pasture of Brachiaria brizantha. The on-farm trial was developed at Boa Vista Farm in conjunction with Bahia State University, southwestern Bahia, Brazil, where forty 26-month-old Nellore steers with the initial weight of 371.0 ± 14.9 kg were previously accommodated to the experimental conditions for 14 days; they were randomly allotted in the following treatments: T 00 = mineral salt, T 03 = 0.3%, T 06 = 0.6%, and T 09 = 0.9% of energy and protein supplementation for 84 days. The animals were visually observed at 10-minute intervals for two periods of 12 hours from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm. Time for ruminating (P