Effects of a blend of essential oils and exogenous α-amylase in diets containing different roughage sources for finishing beef cattle

Abstract Two experiments were carried out to evaluate the effects of feed additives and roughage sources on performance, carcass characteristics, meat quality, and total tract apparent digestibility of finishing bulls. In Exp. 1, 88 Nellore bulls were used in a randomized complete block design with a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement, to evaluate the effects of feeding sodium monensin (MON; 26 mg/kg DM) or the combination of a blend of essential oils + exogenous α-amylase (BEO+AM; 90 and 560 mg /kg DM, respectively of commercial product) associated with corn silage (CS) or sugarcane bagasse (SCB) on performance, carcass, and meat quality of finishing cattle. Bulls fed CS-based diet had a higher dry matter intake (DMI; P