It was evaluatedseveral levels of mineral mixture and urea for crossbred heifers, with Gyr predominance,in the dry season period in Zona da Mata region in Minas Gerais. The experimentwas carried out in a Brachiaria decumbens pasture area, divided in five paddocksof 3.5 hectares. It was used 35 heifers distributed in a 2 × 2 + 1 factorialscheme, composed of two levels of urea (10 and 25%), two levels of mineral salt(10 and 25%) and a control diet (only mineral salt), totaling five diets, eachone evaluated with seven replicates. The supplements were based on ground corn,urea, ammonia sulfate and mineral mixture with 32 to 72% crude protein, andthey composed the following diets: MM ( mineral mix), 10:10 (10% mineral mix,10% urea and 80% corn); 10:25 (10% mineral mix, 25% urea and 65% corn); 25:10(25% mineral mix, 10% urea and 65% corn), and 25:25 (25% mineral mix, 25% ureaand 50% corn). Urea and mineral salt are effective in controlling supplementintake by bovines growing on pastures during dry season because the higher theirlevels, the lower the intake of supplements. Diets with 25% urea and 10% mineralsalt provided higher daily weight gain and higher weight gain:supplemment intakeratio.
