Effect of ear-corn silage feeding on growth and meat productive performances in Japanese black steers
2017
Asada, M. ((National Livestock Breeding Center Tokachi Station, Hokkaido (Japan)), (National Livestock Breeding Center, Fukushima (Japan))) | Sugiyama, A. | Yamashita, C. | Takeda, K. | Kadoya, T. | Namekawa, H. | Inoue, K.
This study investigated effects of an ear-corn silage (ECS) mixed diet on feed intake, growth, and meat production performance of Japanese Black steers. Steers of 10 months of age were fattened for 17 months with two diets : ECS mixed diet (ECS group, n = 6) and commercial concentrate diet (control group, n = 6). The ECS mixed diet included 40% ECS as the total digestible nutrient (TDN) basis in a concentrate diet. Growth performance of the steers was measured during the fattening period. After fattening, carcass traits and physicochemical characteristics, which included general composition and fatty acid composition of longissimus muscle, were measured. Final body weight and daily weight gain for the whole period in the ECS group (865 kg and 0.93 kg/day) were greater (P < 0.05) than those in the control group (790 kg and 0.83 kg/day). Feed conversion of TDN for the whole period in the ECS group (7.9 kg) was better (P < 0.05) than that in the control group (8.4 kg). Carcass weight (CW) and rib thickness (RT) in the ECS group (529 kg and 8.4 cm) were also superior (P < 0.05) to those in the control group (481 kg and 7.3 cm). However, no difference was found between the groups in meat quality traits including the beef marbling score, general composition, and fatty acid composition. These results demonstrate that feed efficiency, growth, carcass performance, and meat quality in the ECS group were not inferior to those of the control group. ECS is useful as self-supplied concentrate feed for fattening cattle.
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