This study was performed to evaluate the accuracy and precision of an automated water trough system (Intergado, Pro-Eficiencia Solucao para Agronegocios S.A., Betim, Minas Gerais, Brazil) for measuring water intake (WI) of beef cattle. The dataset was obtained from thirteen Angus x Hereford registered crossbred breeding bulls over a 90 d research trial. Animals were consuming beardless wheat (Triticum aestivum) hay near maintenance requirements with free access to water and a trace mineral block. The animals were assigned to 1 of 2 shaded pens provided with a total of eight automated water trough systems. For each voluntary visit to the water trough, the system recorded the animal identification, water consumed, and initial BW. The final BW was determined following each drinking event by accounting for the weight of water disappeared upon drinking (±0.050 kg), scale recorded weights (±0.500 kg), and flow of water consumed (L/s). Data were analyzed based on plotting observed against predicted for the identity line (slope = 0 and intercept = 1) and goodness-of-fit, both were assessed using the Model Evaluation System (Tedeschi 2006). Differences were considered significant at P ≤ 0.10. The intercept was found to be different than zero (P < 0.001) but slope was similar to 1 (P = 0.0658). Differences were attributed to the inherent precision of the scales. The WI values presented a mean bias of 0.140 kg. The predicted WI accounted for 99.9% of the observed WI. Goodness-of-fit indicated very high values for modeling efficiency (0.999), accuracy (0.999), and the overall measurement of precision and accuracy (CCC; 0.998). Additionally, the major part of the prediction error was random (89%), indicating that only 11% of the error was associated with the prediction technique. Therefore, the Intergado automated water trough system is recommended for the monitoring of individual water intake for beef cattle.
Opuntia ficus-indica is highly regarded as an emergency feed for livestock during drought and as a mainstay for the wildlife population in temperate semi-arid and arid parts of the United States. The goal of this study was to assess the effects of replacing alfalfa and orchard grass with different levels of prickly pear on digestion and fermentation patterns. Three forages were evaluated: alfalfa, orchard grass and prickly pear. In order to determine kinetics of digestion, gas volumes were measured after incubation periods of 0, 3, 6, 12, and 24 h. Samples were run in triplicate with 2 blanks for a total of three periods. Data on gas production were fitted to the equation by Ørskov and McDonald (1979) using SAS software 9.4 (P ≤ 0.05; SAS Inst. Inc., Cary, NC) program. The gas volume observed from the soluble fraction ‘a’ and ‘b’ were similar (P > 0.05) for prickly pear amongst all treatments; no difference was observed between alfalfa and cactus. The rate of gas production ‘c’ was higher in cactus (16.5%, h-1) than alfalfa and orchard grass (11.5%, h-1 and 7.7%, h-1, respectively). The extent ‘a +b’ of gas volumes revealed no difference among the test forages. Prickly pear showed a faster rate of degradation compared to alfalfa and orchard grass. A rapid rate of digestion means a faster passage of the material through the digestive tract. Thus, the higher values obtained for the ‘c’ and similar ‘a + b’ parameters in prickly pear compared to alfalfa or orchard grass, may signal it as a good potential alternative feed in arid and semi-arid areas.
The objective of this study was to determine the influence of defatted hemp under three irrigation regimes (0, 100, and 200 mm: DF0, DF1, and DF2 respectively) on in vitro fermentation parameters relative to alfalfa (Medicago sativa). Fermentation kinetics was accessed through in vitro gas production technique. Two ruminally cannulated Angus steers were used as inoculum donors in four incubation runs. For each incubation, four 160-mL serum bottles containing 200 mg of air-dried samples were incubated in 14 mL of buffering media and 4 mL of rumen inoculum. Each incubation spanned 48h with gas production measured at 0, 3, 6, 12, 24, and 48-h post-incubation. In vitro true digestibility of dry matter (IVTDMD) and organic matter (IVTOMD), total gas production (TGP), metabolizable energy (ME) and total volatile fatty acids (VFA) were determined. Hemp and alfalfa were compared via orthogonal contrast using the GLIMMIX procedure of SAS (version 9.4) with treatment as fixed effect and run as a random. Relative to alfalfa (Alf) hemp displayed increased TGP (P < 0.01; 31.1 vs. 27.47 mL) that remained following correction for DM and OM (P ≤ 0.05). Similarly, IVTDMD and IVTOMD were higher for hemp (P < 0.01; 77.7 vs. 70.2% and 81.7 vs. 73.9%). Hemp yielded slightly higher ME (P = 0.03) but equivalent total VFA production when compared to Alf (P = 0.62), even when corrected for DM and OM. Irrigation at 200 mm decreased TGP and fermentability of fat-extracted hemp (p-value). Results also indicate that irrigation at its highest level is detrimental to the availability of ME for rumen microbes, but not with the expense of the in vitro digestibility (IVTDMD and IVTOMD) nor in total VFA produced. In conclusion, defatted hemp samples appear to have greater digestibility and ME with equivalent VFA production relative to alfalfa.
Water intake of dairy calves is often overlooked by most nutrition models which can be associated with the misconception that dairy calves meet their water requirements with milk or milk replacer (MR) alone. The goals herein were to investigate the effect of two isoenergetic supplements fed in a MR diet on total water intake (TWI) and fresh water intake (FWI). Twenty-three Holstein bull-calves (94.67 ± 12.07 kg) were distributed in a completely randomized design and received one of three supplements for 68 days: control (CON; n = 7), carbohydrates (CHO; n = 8), and lipid (FAT; n = 8); on top of a MR-based diet. The CON was composed of ad libitum MR alone. The FAT was composed of a supplementation of menhaden fish oil on CON (3%); and CHO was composed of corn starch supplementation on CON. All animals were provided free access to mineral mix, 200 g daily dried brewer’s spent grains, and clean water. Data were analyzed with orthogonal contrasts for pre-specified treatment comparisons using R statistical software [R Core Team (2019)]. No significant differences were observed for MR intake, 3.13, 3.05, and 3.14 kg, final bodyweight, 208.75, 200.94, 202.64 kg, and average daily gain, 1.74, 1.60, 1.64 kg, for FAT, CHO, and CON, respectively. TWI in a metabolic bodyweight (MBW) basis was different (P < 0.05) amongst treatments; lower TWI intake was seen for FAT than CHO than CON (0.363 and 0.388 vs 0.423 L/kg0.75, respectively). TWI without MBW resulted in similar results (P < .05) with average TWI of 15.69, 16.08, and 18.00 L; FWI differences (P < .05) were seen alone 1.51, 2.59, and 3.77 L, as well as in MBW basis 0.033, 0.060, and 0.088 L/kg.75 for FAT, CHO, and CON. These data could potentially show that metabolic water production in early ruminant animals can significantly decrease water intake.
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