Effects of Whole Crop Barley Silage (WBS) Supplementation on Growth Performance and Meat Quality of Hanwoo Steers

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of feeding whole crop barley silage (WBS) on the growth performance, carcass grade, and beef quality of Hanwoo steers. Twelve Hanwoo steers (12-mon-old) were allocated into either a control (rice straw fed) or WBS (whole crop barley silage fed) group (six animals per group) and fed for 540 d until the animals reached 30-mon-old. Concentrates and roughage were fed according to the feeding stage phases; finisher I (12-16-monold), II (17-21-mon-old), and III (22-30-mon-old). A significant increase in growth was observed during the finisher I stage for the steer fed WBS, whereas a significant increase in growth occurred during the finisher II stage in the control group. The yield grade of the WBS group increased significantly with a 15.6% increase in the longissimus dorsi area and a 25.7% reduction in back fat thickness. Marbling scores improved 52.4% in the WBS group compared with the control group. A significant difference in treatments was observed for the proximate chemical composition of the crude fat content. The results regarding palatability traits in the WBS group showed a significant improvement in appearance. The results indicate that the WBS group had improved longissimus muscle and marbling scores on carcass grading compared to the control.

The Effects of Total Mixed Ration Feeding with High Roughage Content on Growth Performance, Carcass Characteristics, and Meat Quality of Hanwoo Steers

“…Whole-crop barley (WCB) and IRG are two of the of the most preferred roughages for ruminants especially for beef producers. WCB silage has long been proposed as a roughage ingredient to replace imported grains, and its use has resulted in significantly increased daily weight gain and improved yield grade, carcass quality, backfat fitness, and intramuscular fat compared with rice straw ( Kook et al, 2011 ; Seo et al, 2010 ). On the other hand, IRG has been also preferred forage crop due to high forage yield and good nutritional quality.…”

Effect of Mature Miscanthus sacchariflorus var. No. 1 on In Vitro Rumen Fermentation Characteristics and Its Dry Matter Digestibility

“…Forage production in Korea is not sufficient to supply enough roughage needed for ruminant livestock production, hence most of forage requirements have to be met by imports (Kook et al, 2011). For this reason, the cost of animal production, particularly beef and dairy products, is highly dependent on the feed cost (Park et al, 2011).…”