Intake and performance of confined bovine fed fresh or ensilaged sugar cane based diets and corn silage

Abstract

-It was evaluated intake, total apparent digestibility, performance and feeding behavior of bovine fed diets constituted of corn silage, crushed sugar cane given fresh or crushed and given 72 hours after storage, ensilaged sugar cane with or without 1% of calcium oxide and concentrate at the proportion of 1% of the body weight. It was used 35 bovines, distributed in a random block design, with 5 treatments and 6 repetitions. The animals were housed in collective stalls with troughs individualized by electronic gates. The animals fed diet with corn silage presented greater intake of all nutrients and greater total digestibility of dry matter, organic matter, neutral detergent fiber and total digestible nutrients, as well as greater weight gain and subcutaneous fat thickness. Animals fed diet with fresh sugar cane presented greater nutrient intake as well as better dry matter digestibility, ether extract and TDN content and a superior performance in relation to animals fed ensilaged sugar cane diets. Animals fed silage of sugar cane with calcium oxide presented greater digestibility of organic matter, NFC and content of TDN but they did not differ on performance in relation to the use of silage of sugar cane without calcium oxide. Intake and performance of animals did not change with or without storage of sugar cane. It was concluded that animals fed diets with corn silage present performances superior to the ones which are fed sugar cane based diets, and animals fed fresh sugar diet are superior to the animals fed diets with sugar cane silage.Key Words: bovine, carcass, digestibility, electronic gates, feedlot, weight gain Consumo e desempenho de bovinos confinados com dietas à base de cana-de-açúcar fresca ou ensilada e silagem de milho RESUMO -Avaliaram-se o consumo, digestibilidade aparente total, desempenho e comportamento alimentar de bovinos alimentados com dietas constituídas de silagem de milho, cana-de-açúcar triturada e fornecida in natura ou triturada e fornecida após 72 horas de armazenamento, cana-de-açúcar ensilada sem ou com 1% de cal e concentrado fixado em 1% do peso corporal. Utilizaram-se 35 bovinos, distribuídos em delineamento com blocos casualizados, com 5 tratamentos e 6 repetições. Os animais foram alojados em baias coletivas com cochos individualizados por portões eletrônicos. Os animais alimentados com dieta contendo silagem de milho apresentaram maior consumo de todos os nutrientes e digestibilidade total da matéria seca, matéria orgânica, fibra em detergente neutro e teor de nutrientes digestíveis totais, assim como maior ganho de peso e espessura de gordura

Effect of days postburning and calcium oxide on the fermentation, aerobic stability and nutritional characteristics of sugarcane silage for finishing Nellore steers

“…Other carcass parameters such as RFT and fat were unaffected by CaO application, which is in accordance with the results of Menezes et al. (), who reported no effects of sugarcane silage treatment with CaO (10 g/kg fresh forage) on the carcass traits of finishing feedlot European × Zebu steers.…”

“…As both burning and CaO application accounted for reductions in the DMI of steers for reasons discussed earlier, steers fed burned silage diets containing CaO had BW loss during the adaptation period, as expected. Under some conditions and depending on the diet formulation, more traditional forage sources (e.g., fresh sugarcane and corn and sorghum silages) provide higher growth performance of beef cattle compared with feeding systems based on sugarcane silage because of reduced DMI (Menezes et al., ; Moraes, Valadares Filho, Moraes, & Pina, ; Pinto et al., ). This result might likely be attributed to the intrinsic characteristics of sugarcane silage such as (a) unbalanced chemical composition (low CP, 30–40 g/kg DM; and high NDF concentration, 480–650 g/kg DM; Daniel et al., ; Rabelo et al., ), (b) reduced in vitro fibre and DM digestibility (approximately 320 g/kg and 480 g/kg respectively; Daniel et al., ; Rabelo et al., ) and (c) formation of undesirable end products during fermentation other than ethanol and acetic acid, as neither affects the growth performance of beef cattle and dairy cows (Daniel, Amaral, Goulart, et al., ; Daniel, Amaral, Sá Neto, et al., ).…”

The Performance of Steers Fed on Sugarcane in natura or Ensiled with Concentrate

“…According to Landell et al (2002), the voluntary intake is inversely related to the NDF content of sugarcane and its digestibility. A similar value was observed (Menezes et al, 2011) for the digestibility of dry matter (DDM) of sugarcane in natura (68.08%) and a higher value for silage sugarcane (61.26%) than obtained in this study. There were no differences (P > 0.05) in the digestibility coefficients of the OM, NDF, CP, EE, NFCs, TC, and TDN as shown in Table 3.…”

“…Another study (Santos et al, 2011) reported the effect of diet on all intakes measured, except for the intake of ether extract. The animals fed on sugarcane in natura presented greater nutrient intake as well as better dry matter digestibility, ether extract, and TDN content, and a superior performance in relation to the animals fed on ensilaged sugarcane diets (Menezes et al, 2011). The diets based on sugarcane in natura presented a higher (P < 0.05) apparent digestibility of dry matter (DDM).…”

“…In another study, Roman et al (2011) observed higher average values for DWG and feed conversion (1.39 and 7.7 respectively), and similar values for HCD for sugarcane silage. The carcass gains (kg/day) were approximately 26% greater (0.65 × 0.52) for the animals fed on sugarcane in natura than the diets with ensilaged sugarcane (Menezes et al, 2011). The major problem with ensilaged sugarcane is its high content of soluble carbohydrates and a high population of epiphytic yeast, which lead to alcoholic fermentation.…”