Effects of concentrated separator by-product (desugared molasses) on intake, ruminal fermentation, digestion, and microbial efficiency in beef steers fed grass hay1

Abstract

Concentrated separator by-product (CSB) is produced when beet molasses goes through an industrial desugaring process. To investigate the nutritional value of CSB as a supplement for grass hay diets (12.5% CP; DM basis), 4 ruminally and duodenally cannulated beef steers (332 +/- 2.3 kg) were used in a 4 x 4 Latin square with a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement of treatments. Factors were intake level: ad libitum (AL) vs. restricted (RE; 1.25% of BW, DM basis) and dietary CSB addition (0 vs. 10%; DM basis). Experimental periods were 21 d in length, with the last 7 d used for collections. By design, intakes of both DM and OM (g/kg of BW) were greater (P < 0.01; 18.8 vs. 13.1 +/- 0.69 and 16.8 vs. 11.7 +/- 0.62, respectively) for animals consuming AL compared with RE diets. Main effect means for intake were not affected by CSB (P = 0.59). However, within AL-fed steers, CSB tended (P = 0.12) to improve DMI (6,018 vs. 6,585 +/- 185 g for 0 and 10% CSB, respectively). Feeding CSB resulted in similar total tract DM and OM digestion compared with controls (P = 0.50 and 0.87, respectively). There were no effects of CSB on apparent total tract NDF (P = 0.27) or ADF (P = 0.35) digestion; however, apparent N absorption increased (P = 0.10) with CSB addition. Total tract NDF, ADF, or N digestion coefficients were not different between AL- and RE-fed steers. Nitrogen intake (P = 0.02), total duodenal N flow (P = 0.02), and feed N escaping to the small intestine (P = 0.02) were increased with CSB addition. Microbial efficiency was unaffected by treatment (P = 0.17). Supplementation with CSB increased the rate of DM disappearance (P = 0.001; 4.9 vs. 6.9 +/- 0.33 %/h). Restricted intake increased the rate of in situ DM disappearance (P = 0.03; 6.4 vs. 5.3 +/- 0.33 %/h) compared with AL-fed steers. Ruminal DM fill was greater (P = 0.01) in AL compared with RE. Total VFA concentrations were greater (P = 0.04) for CSB compared with controls; however, ammonia concentrations were reduced (P = 0.03) with CSB addition. At different levels of dietary intake, supplementing medium-quality forage with 10% CSB increased N intake, small intestinal protein supply, and total ruminal VFA.

Effect of adding lactic acid bacteria and molasses on fermentation quality and in vitro ruminal digestion of total mixed ration silage prepared with whole crop rice

“…Our previous study (Cao et al 2009a; showed that silages with 30% TC had higher LA content, compared to those with RB and GTW. In addition, M is a food byproduct of sugar beet and sugarcane production, although M with high soluble carbohydrates is used as a major energy source for meat or milk production (Wang and Goetsch 1998;Araba et al 2002;Granzin and Dryden 2005;Shellito et al 2006;Sahoo and Walli 2008). LAB can increase the LA content of a silage (Cai 2001;Cai et al 2003), and was well used to prepare silage.…”

“…M is a fermentable carbohydrate (Maiga and Schingoethe 1997) and many researchers (Alli et al 1984) have reported its successful use with grass silage. In addition, M is a food byproduct of sugar beet and sugarcane production, although M with high soluble carbohydrates is used as a major energy source for meat or milk production (Wang and Goetsch 1998;Araba et al 2002;Granzin and Dryden 2005;Shellito et al 2006;Sahoo and Walli 2008). Alli et al (1984) assessed the effects of M on the fermentation of chopped whole-plant Leucaena.…”

Ruminal Digestibility and Quality of Silage Conserved via Fermentation by Lactobacilli

“…Furthermore, although there are some reports that adding molasses has no effect on DM digestibility (Granzin & Dryden 2005;Wang & Goetsch 1998), many more studies (Shellito et al, 2006;Sahoo & Walli 2008) have reported that diets with molasses have higher ruminal DM digestibility.…”

Anaerobic co-digestion of desugared molasses with cow manure; focusing on sodium and potassium inhibition

“…Normal molasses has several commercial applications, for example, as carbon source for fermentation industry, as fertilizer, and as animal feed, and it has also been reported to be used for biogas production (Lo et al, 1991). DM has less economic value than normal molasses (Olbrich, 1963), but application as animal feed has also been reported (Shellito et al, 2006). In general, DM contains lower concentration of sugar and higher concentration of ions such as sodium and potassium, than normal molasses due to the desugaring process.…”