Beef cattle production systems hide an enormous variability of productive and management aspects that impact the water footprint value. To have a greater precision in decision making based on water footprint we should consider animal-individuality and propose managements solutions. The aims of this study were to calculate the water footprint for a tropical cattle production system and to evaluated the influence of each individual-animal performance and type of diet. This study calculated the volumetric water footprint (WF) in its three dimensions: green, blue, and grey. The reference units were: L kg LW-1 (liters per kg of live weight) and L kg CW-1 (liters per kg of carcass weight). This study used a population of 52 Nelore bulls (Bos taurus indicus). In the feedlot phase, cattle were divided into two subgroups by weight. Each subgroup was further divided into nutritional treatment groups: Co-product Feed Light Animals (COP_L) and Heavy (COP_H) and Conventional Feed Light Animals (CON_L) and Heavy (CON_H). Co-product diet consisted of corn silage + corn germ + citrus pulp + peanut meal. Conventional diet consisted of corn silage + maize + soybean meal. The type of diet did not significant affect carcass weight and live weight (p < 0.05). The individual-animal WF varied from 32,569 L - 29,923 L kg CW-1 and from 18,279 - 16,803 L kg LW-1. The weight of animals did not significantly affect performance indicators and water footprints for conventional diet (p < 0.05), but the green and total water footprints were significantly affected for co-product diets (p < 0.05). This information could be used to support improvements in policies and good practices for farmers and policy makers to enhance the beef water efficiency. The study also contributed to produce data that are still scarce in science about the use of water along beef chain and benchmark water footprint. The generation of information about meat water footprint and practices that can make the product more water efficient will have immediate value for decision making about present and future beef meat sustainability.

肉牛生产系统掩盖了影响水足迹价值的生产和管理方面的巨大差异。为了在基于水足迹的决策中具有更高的精度，我们应该考虑动物的个体性并提出管理解决方案。这项研究的目的是计算热带牛生产系统的水足迹，并评估每种动物的生产性能和饮食类型的影响。这项研究计算了三个维度的水足迹（WF）：绿色，蓝色和灰色。参考单位为：L千克LW-1（升/千克活重）和L千克CW-1（升/千克car体重量）。这项研究使用了52头Nelore公牛（Bos taurus indicus）。在饲养场阶段，按重量将牛分为两个亚组。每个亚组又分为营养治疗组：副产品饲料轻型动物（COP_L）和重型（COP_H）和常规饲料轻型动物（CON_L）和重型（CON_H）。副产品饮食包括玉米青贮饲料+玉米胚芽+柑橘果肉+花生粕。常规饮食包括玉米青贮饲料+玉米+豆粕。饮食类型对significant体重量和活体重没有显着影响（p＜0.05）。个体动物的WF在32,569 L-29,923 L kg CW-1和18,279-16,803 L kg LW-1之间。动物的体重并未显着影响常规饮食的性能指标和水足迹（p <0.05），但副产品饮食的绿色和总水足迹却受到显着影响（p<0.05）。该信息可用于支持改善政策和良好做法，以帮助农民和决策者提高牛肉用水效率。这项研究还有助于产生在科学上仍然缺乏关于沿牛肉链使用水和基准水足迹的数据。产生有关肉类水足迹的信息以及可以使产品更加节水的做法的信息，对于当前和未来牛肉的可持续性决策具有即时价值。