The influence of molasses and yeast culture on the performance of growing bulls on grass silage-based diet

Abstract

] in the concentrate mixture on feed intake, live weight gain and carcass characteristics of growing Ayrshire bulls were examined in a 3 x 2 factorial design. Twenty-eight animals with a mean initial hveweight (LW) of 268 kg were used. Molasses replaced a part of concentrate, which was based on a mixture (1:1) of barley and sugar beet pulp. Grass silage was offered ad libitum and the concentrate supplements at the rate of 100 g per LW°6 on air dry basis. YC (5 g day' 1 ) was top-dressed on the concentrate. Feed intake was not affected by the treatments but LW gain decreased linearly (P<0.05) with increasing rate of molasses (1.21, 1.16 and 1.09 kg day" 1 ; SEM 0.029). As the proportion of molasses increased from 0 to 200 g/kg concentrate the efficiency of feed conversion declined (linear effect P < 0.01) from 6.10 to 6.75 kg DM kg" 1 LW gain. YC had no significant effect either on feed intake (7.26 vs 7.49 kg day" 1 ) or LW gain (1.14 vs 1.17 kg day" 1 ). Yeast interacted with concentrate so that with M 0 LW gain was increased and with M 200 decreased by YC. The differences in carcass weight and carcass gain reflected a pattern similar to those in LW gain. Dressing proportion and fat grades were not affected by the treatments but carcass quality grade was better in animals receiving YC.

Effect of Molasses Supplementation on the Production of Lactating Dairy Cows Fed Diets Based on Alfalfa and Corn Silage

“…However, both 4 and 8% molasses DM improved production when supplementing a 65% alfalfa silage diet. Huhtanen and Hissa (1996) reported depressed weight gain and feed efficiency when about 4 and 8% molasses DM were added to a grass silage diet fed to growing bulls. Lactose yield, which did not display a significant quadratic response, was lowest at the highest level of molasses feeding.…”

The effect of supplementing highly wilted grass silage with maize silage, fodder beet or molasses on degradation of the diets and the efficiency of microbial protein synthesis in the rumen of sheep

“…However, the literature data dealing with the effect of M supple-mentation on EMPS and related traits are contradictory. Stokes et al (1991), Givens et al (1992) and Ordonez-Tercero et al (2003) confirmed a positive effect of M, while others reported no (Murphy et al, 1993) or even negative effect (Huhtanen and Hissa, 1996) of M inclusion in the GS diet.…”