<p><strong>Background.</strong> Given the production conditions in the resulting dry tropics, supplementation and use of protein sources is necessary. <strong>Objective.</strong> The objective of this study was to evaluate <em>in vitro</em> gas production, <em>in vitro</em> fermentation characteristics, productive response, ruminal characteristics, and apparent nutrient digestibility of a whole diet with sesame paste or soybean paste in calf feed. <strong>Methodology.</strong> <em>In vitro</em> total gas production was measured at 3, 6, 9, 12, 24, 48 and 72 hours. In addition, Eight Simbrah calves of 229 ± 39 kg live weight (LW) were fed a whole diet containing 10% soybean paste (control) or sesame paste (experimental). The study lasted 40 days and productive variables, nutrient digestibility and ruminal characteristics were determined. The experimental design was completely randomized. <strong>Results.</strong> Total gas production at 3 hours was 39% higher (p &lt;0.05). in the control treatment, while at 6, 9, 12, 24, 48, 72 h and accumulated it was not different (p&gt; 0.05). The dry matter intake (DMI) and the daily weight gain (DWA) did not change (p&gt; 0.05) between treatments. In feed conversion (FC) the calves of the control treatment were 2.04% more efficient. Neutral detergent fiber digestibility was 3.9% higher (p &lt;0.05) in calves fed sesame paste; while the digestibility of dry matter (DDM), organic matter, (DOM), acid detergent fiber (DADF), crude protein (DCP) and ruminal characteristics did not change (p&gt; 0.05) between treatments. <strong>Implications.</strong> The use of sesame paste as a protein source gives a favorable productive response like soybean paste. <strong>Conclusion.</strong> The inclusion of sesame paste in whole calf diets can replace soybean paste in the whole calf diet in the tropics.</p>