scholarly journals Substituting oat hay or maize silage for portion of alfalfa hay affects growth performance, ruminal fermentation, and nutrient digestibility of weaned calves

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 369-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yang Zou ◽  
XinPing Zou ◽  
XiZhi Li ◽  
Gang Guo ◽  
Peng Ji ◽  
...  
Animals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 596
Author(s):  
Yafeng Huang ◽  
Cory Matthew ◽  
Fei Li ◽  
Zhibiao Nan

This study evaluated common vetch stover as a feed in mixed rations for growing lambs. Four common vetch varieties were compared with alfalfa (control) for their effects on growth performance, ruminal fermentation, nutrient digestibility, and nitrogen retention. Male Hu lambs (n = 50) aged 3 months, with a mean body weight of 17.5 ± 0.34 kg were allocated randomly to one of the five dietary treatments, making 10 lambs per treatment. The experiment lasted 67 days with a 10-day adaptation period and a 50-day fattening period, and with the final 7 days used for a nutrient digestibility and nitrogen balance trial. All diets contained 30.0% maize straw and 50.0% concentrate, with different forage sources (on a fed basis): 20.0% alfalfa hay (control), 20.0% local common vetch variety 333A (C333A) stover, or 20.0% stover of one of three improved common vetch varieties: Lanjian No. 1 (CLJ1), Lanjian No. 2 (CLJ2), or Lanjian No. 3 (CLJ3). For stover quality, CLJ1 stover had the greatest crude protein (CP), in vitro organic matter digestibility (IVOMD), and metabolizable energy (ME) content and the least cell wall contents, while C333A stover had the least CP, IVOMD, and ME contents and the greatest cell wall contents. Sheep fed the control diet had a greater average daily gain (ADG), apparent digestibility of organic matter (DOM), neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber, and nitrogen retention, and greater ruminal total volatile fatty acids concentration than lambs fed the C333A or CLJ3 diet, but similar performance to lambs fed the CLJ1 and CLJ2 diets. The feed conversion ratio and predicted CH4 emission per unit of DOM intake and ADG of the control, CLJ1, and CLJ2 diets was significantly lower (p < 0.05) than for the other diets. Based on these results, stovers of varieties CLJ1 and CLJ2 can be recommended as an alternative to alfalfa hay and for use in a legume crop rotation with cereals on the Tibetan plateau.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liguang Shi ◽  
Yu Zhang ◽  
Lingli Wu ◽  
Wenjuan Xun ◽  
Qiang Liu ◽  
...  

The study investigated amelioration effects of coconut oil (CO) on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, ruminal fermentation, and blood metabolites in Hainan Black goat kids. Twenty-four Hainan Black goat kids (10 days of age) were assigned randomly to four treatments for 90 days, including pre-weaning (10–70 d of age) and post-weaning (70-100 d of age) days. The treatment regimens were control (CON), low CO (LCO), medium CO (MCO), and high CO (HCO) with 0, 4, 6, 8 g CO per goat per day, respectively. During the pre-weaning period, the average daily gain (ADG) linearly and quadratically increased (P &lt; 0.05), whereas the average daily feed intake (ADFI) linearly decreased, and the feed conversion ratio (FCR) also decreased linearly and quadratically by increasing CO supplementation (P &lt; 0.05). During the post-weaning period, increasing CO supplementation linearly and quadratically increased the BW at 100 days and ADG (P &lt; 0.05), but quadratically decreased the ADFI and FCR (P &lt; 0.05). The digestibility of ether extract (EE) linearly and quadratically increased with increasing CO supplementation (P &lt; 0.05). Supplementation of CO linearly increased ruminal pH (P &lt; 0.05), but linearly decreased (P &lt; 0.05) ammonia-N, total VFAs, molar proportions of acetate, ruminal microbial enzyme activity of carboxymethyl-cellulase, cellobiase, xylanase, pectinase and α-amylase, and number of total protozoa, the abundance of Ruminococcus albus, Ruminococcus flavefaciens, Fibrobacter succinogenes, Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens, Prevotella ruminicola, and Ruminobacter amylophilus. The estimated methane emission decreased linearly and quadratically with increasing CO addition (P &lt; 0.05). The serum concentration of triglycerides (TG), non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) and growth hormone (GH) linearly (P &lt; 0.05) increased by raising the CO supplementation. The present results indicate that CO supplementation at 6 g/day per goats is optimum due to improved growth performance and decreased estimated methane emission. Supplementation CO up to 8 g/day depressed growth and feed conversion due to its suppression of growth performance, rumen protozoa, cellulolytic bacteria and microbial enzyme activity, and reduced ADF and ADF digestibility.


2018 ◽  
Vol 156 (6) ◽  
pp. 839-847 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. H. S. Rabelo ◽  
E. C. Lara ◽  
F. C. Basso ◽  
C. J. Härter ◽  
R. A. Reis

AbstractWhole-crop maize forage was ensiled without inoculant (control), inoculated with Lactobacillus buchneri and L. plantarum at a rate of 1 × 105 cfu/g fresh forage per bacterium (LBLP), or inoculated with Bacillus subtilis and L. plantarum at a rate 1 × 105 cfu/g fresh forage per bacterium (BSLP) with the goal to investigate the growth performance of finishing feedlot lambs. Thirty Dorper × Santa Ines lambs (29 ± 3.5 kg initial body weight) were used in the feedlot programme and assigned (n = 10) to one of three diets containing control, LBLP or BSLP silages in a 60:40 forage:concentrate ratio. Inoculation of maize silage did not alter dry matter intake (overall mean = 1.16 kg/day) and average daily gain (overall mean = 0.217 kg/day) of lambs. Consequently, feed efficiency remained unchanged. Inoculation of maize silage did not alter carcass and meat traits of lambs, with the exception of meat colour, wherein yellowness (b*) decreased by feeding LBLP and BSLP diets compared with the untreated diet. Regarding ruminal fermentation, there was an interaction between diets and the interval at which ruminal fluid was sampled for determining total volatile fatty acid concentration, but inoculation yielded no obvious results. In conclusion, the use of diets based on maize silage inoculated with L. plantarum combined with either L. buchneri or B. subtilis did not display relevant effects on growth performance of lambs; this response might be related to the limited impact of these bacterial inoculants on silage composition.


PeerJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. e11631
Author(s):  
Chen Zheng ◽  
Juwang Zhou ◽  
Yanqin Zeng ◽  
Ting Liu

Background Mannan oligosaccharides (MOS) are a promising feed additive in animal husbandry due to mainly improving animal health status. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of MOS on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, ruminal fermentation, and twelve hematological parameters in sheep. Methods Ninety-six healthy Hu rams with similar body weights were chosen and divided into four treatment groups (twenty-four rams in each group), in which four different doses of MOS were tested: 0%, 0.8%, 1.6% and 2.4% of the basal diet (on an as-fed basis). Results The results showed that supplementation dietary MOS did not affect feed intake, body weight, average daily weight gain, or ruminal short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) concentration; the ratio of individual fatty acids to total SCFAs, the C2/C3 ratio, and the hematological parameters in the sheep were also unaltered (P > 0.05). Conversely, supplementation dietary MOS increased the dry matter, organic matter, crude protein, neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber, and ash apparent digestibility (P < 0.05), and decreased the ruminal ammonia concentration in the sheep (P < 0.05), especially at a dose of 1.6%. Conclusions This indicates that supplementation dietary MOS improved nutrient utilization by the sheep and nitrogen metabolism in the rumen; however, the effects are too slight to interfere with the basal metabolism in the sheep.


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