Efeito da qualidade de quatro variedades de cana-de-açúcar no ganho de peso de novilhas Canchim.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of the utilization of four varieties of sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum, L.) in the diet of Canchim heifers. The varieties used were IAC86-2480, IAC87-3184, RB72-454 and RB83-5486. They were tested on a complete randomized design, with four treatments (varieties) and twenty one replications. The animals of each treatment were group fed on a complete diet supplemented with 1.3 kg of concentrate with soybean meal, urea, ammonium sulfate, limestone and minerals. The dry matter intake were 2.70; 2.71; 2.79 and 2.79 % of live weight, respectively for the diets with IAC86-2480, IAC87-3184, RB72-454 and RB83-5486 varieties. There were differences (P 0.05) in weight gain between the diets with RB83-5486 and RB72-454 varieties, the results may implicate in a small reduction in the quantity of concentrate to be utilized in the diet with the variety RB83-5486 to obtain live weight gain of 0.76 kg/animal/day.