Intake, digestibility, rumen fermentation and performance of beef cattle fed diets based on whole-crop wheat or barley harvested at two cutting heights relative to maize silage or ad libitum concentrates

Walsh, KP; O’Kiely, P.; Moloney, A.P.; Boland, T. M.

doi:10.1016/j.anifeedsci.2007.10.018

Cited by 35 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 22 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Clarke et al (2009) reported an increase in DM intake with increasing sire EPD DMI . The increase in urea concentrations with increased EPD DMI is as expected because urea concentrations are positively associated with dietary nitrogen intake (Walsh et al, 2008), and systemic concentrations of urea are less influenced by the timing of postprandial blood sampling than other metabolites such as glucose.…”

Section: Economic Index and Performancesupporting

confidence: 57%

Live animal measurements, carcass composition and plasma hormone and metabolite concentrations in male progeny of sires differing in genetic merit for beef production

Clarke

Drennan

McGee

et al. 2009

Animal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In genetic improvement programmes for beef cattle, the effect of selecting for a given trait or index on other economically important traits, or their predictors, must be quantified to ensure no deleterious consequential effects go unnoticed. The objective was to compare live animal measurements, carcass composition and plasma hormone and metabolite concentrations of male progeny of sires selected on an economic index in Ireland. This beef carcass index (BCI) is expressed in euros and based on weaning weight, feed intake, carcass weight and carcass conformation and fat scores. The index is used to aid in the genetic comparison of animals for the expected profitability of their progeny at slaughter. A total of 107 progeny from beef sires of high (n 5 11) or low (n 5 11) genetic merit for the BCI were compared in either a bull (slaughtered at 16 months of age) or steer (slaughtered at 24 months of age) production system, following purchase after weaning (8 months of age) from commercial beef herds. Data were analysed as a 2 3 2 factorial design (two levels of genetic merit by two production systems). Progeny of high BCI sires had heavier carcasses, greater ( P , 0.01) muscularity scores after weaning, greater ( P , 0.05) skeletal scores and scanned muscle depth pre-slaughter, higher ( P , 0.05) plasma insulin concentrations and greater ( P , 0.01) animal value (obtained by multiplying carcass weight by carcass value, which was based on the weight of meat in each cut by its commercial value) than progeny of low BCI sires. Regression of progeny performance on sire genetic merit was also undertaken across the entire data set. In steers, the effect of BCI on carcass meat proportion, calculated carcass value (c/kg) and animal value was positive ( P , 0.01), while a negative association was observed for scanned fat depth pre-slaughter and carcass fat proportion ( P , 0.01), but there was no effect in bulls. The effect of sire expected progeny difference (EPD) for carcass weight followed the same trends as BCI. Muscularity scores, carcass meat proportion and calculated carcass value increased, whereas scanned fat depth, carcass fat and bone proportions decreased with increasing sire EPD for conformation score. The opposite association was observed for sire EPD for fat score. Results from this study show that selection using the BCI had positive effects on live animal muscularity, carcass meat proportion, proportions of high-value cuts and carcass value in steer progeny, which are desirable traits in beef production.

show abstract

Section: Economic Index and Performancesupporting

confidence: 57%

Live animal measurements, carcass composition and plasma hormone and metabolite concentrations in male progeny of sires differing in genetic merit for beef production

Clarke

Drennan

McGee

et al. 2009

Animal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, previous reports in cattle (Richardson et al, 1996 have found higher blood concentration of urea in less efficient genotypes. This may be a function of the greater protein intake of high-RFI animals, as it is known that systemic concentration of urea are positively associated with dietary nitrogen intake (Kenny et al, 2002;Walsh et al, 2008), as observed in the current study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 59%

Relationship between body measurements, metabolic hormones, metabolites and residual feed intake in performancetested pedigree beef bulls

et al. 2011

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…However, increasingly other ensiled forages, such as different whole-crop silages, are being used due to their potentially lower costs. In addition, recent advances in plant breeding, agronomic practices and forage conservation technologies are expanding opportunities for these alternative crops (Walsh et al 2008a) and nowadays small-grain cereals are widely grown for animal feed in temperate climates. An economic advantage of harvesting cereals as whole-crops is that farmers can use the same machines they use for making grass silage.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance of growing dairy bulls offered diets based on silages made of whole-crop barley, whole-crop wheat, hairy vetch and grass

Huuskonen¹,

Joki‐Tokola²

2008

AFSci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The present experiment was conducted to study diet digestibility, feed intake, animal performance and carcass characteristics of growing dairy bulls offered diets based on whole-crop barley, a mixture of whole-crop barley and hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth.) or a mixture of whole-crop wheat and hairy vetch relative to moderate digestible grass silage-based diet. The feeding experiment with 24 Finnish Ayrshire and 8 HolsteinFriesian bulls included 4 forage feeding treatments: grass silage (G), whole-crop barley and hairy vetch mixture silage (BHV), whole-crop wheat and hairy vetch mixture silage (WHV) and whole-crop barley silage (B). In all treatments animals were offered silage ad libitum. The amount of concentrate supplementation was 36 g (W 0.75 ) -1 per animal per day for all treatments. The concentrate ration included rolled barley and rapeseed meal. Differences between the treatments were compared using an a priori test (Dunnett's test) so that comparison of the diets was based on the G diet. The animals were fed the experimental diets from day 240 to finish at day 505 of age. During the experiment the average concentrate proportions of G, BHV, WHV and B diets were 437, 424, 426 and 423 g dry matter (DM) (kg DM) -1 , respectively. There were no significant differences in silage DM intake or in the total DM intake (DMI) (kg DM d -1 ) between treatments. However, DMI kg -1 W 0.75 tended to be 3.5% higher (p = 0.09) in the B diet than in the G diet. Due to increasing energy intake, the gain of the bulls was higher with the G diet than with the WHV diet (p < 0.05). BHV and B diets did not differ from the G diet in gain. Treatments had no significant effect on the dressing proportion or carcass conformation. The carcass fat score of WHV bulls was 29% lower (p < 0.05) than that of the G bulls, but BHV and B diets did not differ from the G diet in carcass fatness. The feed conversion rate (DM intake kg -1 carcass gain) of the bulls was better (p < 0.001) and protein conversion (g AAT kg -1 carcass gain) tended to be better (p = 0.07) with the G diet than with the WHV diet. BHV and B diets did not differ from the G diet in any feed conversion parameters. It can be concluded that replacing moderate digestible grass silage with whole-crop wheat and hairy vetch mixture silage decreased the carcass gain of growing dairy bulls due to lower energy intake and poorer feed conversion. Instead, replacing moderate digestible grass silage with whole-crop barley or with whole-crop barley and hairy vetch mixture silage resulted in no differences in the performance or carcass characteristics parameters of growing dairy bulls.

show abstract

Intake, digestibility, rumen fermentation and performance of beef cattle fed diets based on whole-crop wheat or barley harvested at two cutting heights relative to maize silage or ad libitum concentrates

Cited by 35 publications

References 22 publications

Live animal measurements, carcass composition and plasma hormone and metabolite concentrations in male progeny of sires differing in genetic merit for beef production

Live animal measurements, carcass composition and plasma hormone and metabolite concentrations in male progeny of sires differing in genetic merit for beef production

Relationship between body measurements, metabolic hormones, metabolites and residual feed intake in performancetested pedigree beef bulls

Performance of growing dairy bulls offered diets based on silages made of whole-crop barley, whole-crop wheat, hairy vetch and grass

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About