The use of antibiotics in animal feed, commonly used as a strategy to achieve greater daily weight gains and recently as way to reduce methane emission, might result in the selection of resistant microorganisms and certain bacterial strains isolated from cattle are resistant to multiple antibiotics and could be human health hazards. To evaluate methane production in ruminant diet without roughage containing ionized amino acids as antibiotic alternative, twenty-four Nellore young bulls were allotted into two groups. The first group was fed with high-grain diet without roughage and without antibiotics diet, containing 82 mg/kg of ionized amino acids mixture (L-lysine and L-taurine HCl 99%, pH 9.74) manufactured by MJ Animal Nutrition. The second group was fed with high-grain diet containing Brachiaria brizantha hay (15% dry matter) and sodium monensin (120 mgּּ animal -1 ּּ day-1). It was not used a negative control group to avoid metabolic disturbances. The feedlot time was 100 days. The weight measurements were performed at the beginning of the trial period and monthly, always with water restriction and fasting for 18 hours, even before slaughter. A completely randomized design was used. Methane emission was measured using the sulfur hexafluoride technique and daily dry matter intake were measured in GrowSafe system. There was no detection of lameness or laminitis in any groups and there were no changes in feed conversion ratio (FCR). The total methane emission (-77.11%) and the methane emission per dry matter intake (DMI; -57.12 %), per average daily weight gain (ADG; -71.11%) and per kilogram of carcass (-70.07%) were different between treatments (P < 0.0001), resulting in decreased emission intensities for group fed without roughage with diet containing ionized amino acids. We conclude that fed without roughage with diet containing ionized amino acids was an effective strategy as an antibiotic alternative, mitigate GHG emissions and facilitate feedlot diets management. In field conditions, the roughage-lacking diets represent advantage, especially regarding its administration to a large amount of the animals just once a week or less, no need area, infra-structure and expertise to produce, preserve and feeding roughage.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.