Nascimento, Karolina BatistaGalvão, Matheus CastilhoMoreno Meneses, Javier AndrésMiranda Moreira, GabrielRamírez-Zamudio, German DaríoPriscilla de Souza, StefaniaDias Prezotto, LigiaHaddad Lima Chalfun, Luthescode Souza Duarte, MarcioRume Casagrande, DanielPies Gionbelli, Mateus2023-01-312023-01-312022-10Nascimento, K.B.; Galvão, M.C.; Meneses, J.A.M.; Moreira, G.M.; Ramírez-Zamudio, G.D.; Souza, S.P.d.; Prezotto, L.D.; Chalfun, L.H.L.; Duarte, M.d.S.; Casagrande, D.R.; et al. Effects of Maternal Protein Supplementation at Mid-Gestation of Cows on Intake, Digestibility, and Feeding Behavior of the Offspring. Animals 2022, 12, 2865. https:// doi.org/10.3390/ani122028652076-2615https://scholarworks.montana.edu/handle/1/17669This study aimed to assess the effects of maternal protein supplementation and offspring sex (OS) on the intake parameters of the offspring. Forty-three Tabapuã cows were randomly allocated in the following treatments: protein supplementation (PS) during days 100–200 of gestation (RES, 5.5% total crude protein (CP), n = 2, or CON, 10% total CP, n = 19) and OS (females, n = 20; males, n = 23). The offspring were evaluated during the cow–calf (0–210 days), backgrounding (255–320 days), growing 1 (321–381 days), and growing 2 (382–445 days) phases. The CON offspring tended to present higher dry matter intake (DMI) at weaning (p = 0.06). The CON males presented lower digestibility of major diet components in the growing 2 phase (p ≤ 0.02). The CON offspring spent 52% more time per day eating supplements at 100 days and 17% less time in idleness at 210 days. The CON males spent 15 min more per day ruminating than RES males in the feedlot phase (p = 0.01). We concluded that protein supplementation over gestation alters the offspring feed intake pattern as a whole, while protein restriction promotes compensatory responses on nutrient digestibility in males.en-UScc-byhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/appetitefetal programmingorganogenesissexual dimorphismzebu beef cowsArticle