Effects of feed intake and dietary level of wet corn gluten feed on feedlot performance, digestibility of nutrients, and carcass characteristics of growing-finishing beef heifers

The objective was to compare the relative energy value of wet corn gluten feed (WCGF) to that of corn in a feedlot situation when diets were initially offered ad libitum (AL) or at restricted feed intake (RFI; 80% of AL). In a completely randomized block (pen location) design experiment, 144 beef heifers (204.1 +/- 18.2 kg) were used (six treatments; three pens of eight heifers/treatment). Treatments were levels of WCGF (on DM basis) in corn silage-based diets (AL; 25 or 50% WCGF) or high-moisture corn-based diets (RFI; 0, 25, 50, or 75% WCGF) during the growing phase (127 d). During finishing (84 d), all diets were offered AL and contained 5% corn silage by replacing corn silage with high-moisture corn in diets that were offered AL. Heifers that were initially at AL had similar (P > .1) feedlot performance (during growing and during the whole trial), digestibility of nutrients (OM, NDF, CP, and GE), and carcass characteristics. During finishing, however, these heifers had better (P = .06) ADG and gain:feed when 25% WCGF was fed. Heifers that were initially at RFI showed a linear decrease (P < .01) in ADG and gain:feed during growing with increasing dietary level of WCGF. However, increasing dietary level of WCGF resulted in a quadratic (P = .02) response in ADG and gain:feed during finishing and also in a quadratic (P = .07) response in ADG and a linear (P = .005) decrease in gain:feed during the whole trial. These quadratic responses indicated that the best performance was achieved at the 25 and 60% levels of WCGF. The decrease in cumulative gain:feed was only 3.5% at the 25 and 50% levels of WCGF but it was 11.4% at the 75% level. Increasing the level of WCGF in diets of heifers that were initially at restricted feed intake did not affect (P > .1) digestibility of nutrients but it improved some carcass characteristics linearly, decreasing fat thickness (P = .04), liver abscess (P = .02), and yield grade (P = .13). Results suggest that WCGF can substitute up to 25 or 50% of dietary DM without negative effects on feedlot performance, digestibility of nutrients, or carcass characteristics. In addition, restricting feeding during growing may be a strategy that improves the utilization of WCGF at these levels.