Effect of high-oil corn on growth performance, diet digestibility, and energy content of finishing diets fed to beef cattle.

Abstract

Sixty crossbred beef steers (initial BW = 412 kg) were used in a 83-d finishing study to determine the effect of feeding dry rolled high-oil corn on performance and total-tract digestibility of finishing diets. Steers were allotted by weight to the following dietary treatments: 1) control corn (C; 82% normal corn, 12% triticale silage), 2) high-oil corn (HO; 82% high-oil corn, 12% silage), and 3) high-oil corn formulated to be isocaloric to C (ISO; 74% high-oil corn, 20% silage). Total lipid content was 4.9% (DM basis) for normal corn and 7.0% for high-oil corn. Steers were individually fed using electronic gates. Quantity of feed offered and refused was recorded daily. Fecal samples were collected on d 63 to 66 of the trial to determine digestibility. Chromic oxide was fed as an indigestible marker for 7 d before fecal collection began. Planned contrasts of HO vs C and ISO vs C were used to assess treatment differences. Dry matter intake was greater for steers fed C vs HO (P < 0.01) or C vs ISO (P < 0.01), but daily gain and feed efficiency were not affected (P > 0.05) by treatments. Digestibility of DM, OM, starch, and GE was greater (P < 0.05) for the HO diet than the C diet, but lipid digestibility did not differ among treatments (P > 0.05). The combined effect of greater GE content and digestibility resulted in greater (P < 0.01) DE content for the HO than for the C diet. Calculated DE of the corn was 8.3% greater (3.74 Mcal/kg; P < 0.01) for the HO diet and 6.5% greater (3.67 Mcal/kg; P < 0.01) for the ISO diet than the corn in the C diet (3.25 Mcal/kg). Dry matter and GE digestibility did not differ (P > 0.05) between the C and ISO diets. Steers consuming ISO had greater (P < 0.05) starch digestibility than steers fed the C diet. Although HO had higher DE, DE intake was similar (P > 0.05) for HO and C due to lower DMI for HO. These results indicate that available energy is greater from high-oil corn than from typical corn, but depressed voluntary feed intake prevented performance improvements and resulted in equal energy intakes between high-oil corn and typical corn diets.

Performance and carcass characteristics of steers fed a low acid-detergent lignin hull, high-oil groat oat in growing and finishing diets

“…This indicates that the poor performance of steers fed LLH-HOG oat diet can be attributed to reduced DMI and not to the fact that the oat grain was less energy dense than either the barley or corn. These results reflect that of Andrae et al (2000), who reported that in order for rate of gain to increase with increasing dietary energy density, voluntary feed intake must not decrease. It should be emphasized that had the LLH-HOG oat-fed cattle been finished to the original target end-point, it is likely that the calculated NE m and NE g content of the diet would be lower than that reported in Table 5 due to increased carcass fat deposition.…”

“…Improved feed efficiency, particularly as a result of lower DMI and similar ADG, reduces the cost of gain in feedlots and can have a marked impact on profitability of feeding cattle. In the case of fat addition, the displacement of dietary carbohydrate by lipid greater in ME is responsible for the improvement in feed efficiency (Andrae et al 2000). As determined through animal performance, the improved feed efficiency was reflected in 4.9 and 6.9% higher calculated NE m and NE g values of the LLH-HOG oat diet (Table 3).…”

Soybean oil and linseed grains on performance and carcass characteristics of crossbred bulls finished in feedlot

“…Furthermore, the average daily gain of 1.50 kg/day was satisfactory. Additionally, these results are consistent with Aferri et al (2005) who reported the gain of 1.20 kg/day and similar to Beaulieu et al (2002) who reported 1.50 kg/day for 102 days unlike the highest average gain of 2.00 kg/ day reported by Andrae et al (2000).…”

“…The high average gain of 2.00 kg/day were reported by Andrae et al (2000) who fed 60 crossbred steers with 82.0% of corn + 12.0% of triticale silage, 82.0% of high oil corn + 12.0% of silage, and highoil corn which were formulated to be iso energetic to the control which had 74.0% of high oil corn + 20.0% of silage. On the other hand, Kazama et al (2008) reported gain of 1.30 kg/day from crossbred heifers (Bos taurus taurus vs. Bos taurus indicus) finished in feedlot with diets containing 22.0% of cotton seed hulls, 45.0% soybean hulls, 7.00% cotton seed meal, 23.5% of corn germ meal or rice bran, 0.80% of mineral salt, 0.80% limestone and 1.20% urea.…”

“…Today, the use of conventional sources of fat on beef cattle diets has still been small (HIGHTSHOE et al, 1991) because some papers (ANDRAE et al, 2000;ENGLE et al, 2000) have described reducing effects on the intake and in the efficiency of fiber digestion although such effects depend on the way fat is offered to the animals. In such way, vegetal oils are strong inhibitors of microorganisms' activity in comparison to animal fat because they are more unsaturated.…”