Meat quality responses to feeding distiller's grains to finishing Holstein steers1,2

Abstract

Strip loins from two experiments were used to evaluate effects of feeding dry (DDG) or wet (WDG) distiller's grains on beef color, tenderness, and sensory traits of Holstein steers. In Exp. 1, conducted at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, dietary treatments consisted of a control whole corn-corn silage diet with soybean meal (SBM) or diets formulated with 12.5% DDG plus urea, 25% DDG, 25% WDG, 50% DDG, or 50% WDG (DM basis). In Exp. 2, conducted at Iowa State University, dietary treatments consisted of cracked corn-corn silage-hay diets with either SBM or urea (Urea) as the control diets, or diets formulated with 10, 20, or 40% DDG or WDG (DM basis). Within each study, strip loins from each of four steers (representing 45.7 and 66.6% of steers in Exp. 1 and 2, respectively) in four replicate pens per treatment were aged for 13 d at 4 degrees C for subsequent color, tenderness, and palatability evaluation. Color of steaks was measured objectively using a HunterLab Miniscan XE spectrophotometer and was subjectively evaluated by a trained panel. Tenderness was measured using the Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF) instrument on steaks cooked to 70 degrees C. For sensory evaluation, 95 consumers were recruited to evaluate tenderness, juiciness, and flavor of cooked steaks. In Exp. 1, steaks from steers fed 25% WDG had higher (P < 0.05) a* values after 138 h of simulated retail display than all other treatments, except for those from steers fed 12.5% DDG. In Exp. 2, a greater (P < 0.05) percentage of steaks from steers fed 40% DDG or 40% WDG were considered moderately undesirable during retail display (steaks that received a consumer acceptability score of 3 or less). There were no (P = 0.20 in Exp. 1, and P = 0.33 in Exp. 2) differences among treatments in Exp. 1 and Exp. 2 for WBSF (1.47 +/- 0.66 kg and 1.58 +/- 0.72 kg, respectively) or taste panel tenderness (5.7 +/- 0.30 and 6.2 +/- 0.22, respectively), beef flavor (6.0 +/- 0.23 and 6.2 +/- 0.22, respectively), and juiciness (5.6 +/- 0.31 and 5.8 +/- 0.23). Feeding distiller's grains at up to 50% of the dietary DM did not affect tenderness or sensory traits, and seems to be a viable feed alternative without negatively impacting sensory attributes.

BOARD-INVITED REVIEW: Use of distillers by-products in the beef cattle feeding industry1

“…Consistent with the quadratic increase in rib fat was a quadratic increase in quality grade. Roeber et al (2005) and Jenschke et al (2007) showed that feeding DDGS and WDGS had no significant impact on palatability of the meat.…”

Feeding wet distillers grains plus solubles contributes to sarcoplasmic reticulum membrane instability

“…Hence, distillers grains are used widely in feedlot diets at levels varying from 10% to 80% on a DM basis. Although many beef quality studies (Roeber et al 2005;Koger et al 2010;Mello et al 2012) on feeding distillers grains reported no differences in tenderness between control and treatments, a recent study (Senaratne 2012) revealed an intriguing phenomenon. Beef from steers fed 30% wet distillers grains plus solubles (WDGS) was more tender than beef from steers not fed WDGS, and this is not the first time that feeding distillers grains is reported to improve tenderness (Depenbusch et al 2009;Segers et al 2011).…”

Chemical and sensory properties of beef of known source and finished on wet distillers grains diets containing varying types and levels of roughage1,2,3

“…Shand et al (1998) reported that cattle finished on wheat-based distillers grains or brewers grain were statistically similar to cattle finished on barley in regards to moisture, fat, pH, cooking losses, and sensory analysis. Likewise, Roeber et al (2005) reported that finishing cattle on dried distillers grains had no effect on sensory attributes of strip loins. Recent research in our laboratory has investigated the effects of finishing cattle on wet distillers grains plus solubles (WDGS).…”