Utilization of cotton byproducts in cattle finishing diets: Impacts on performance, carcass traits, and ruminal degradability of diet components
Abstract
Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the inclusion of cotton byproducts in feedlot finishing diets on the performance and carcass traits of steers and to evaluate the in situ ruminal degradability of the individual diet components and treatment diets. In experiment 1, crossbred beef steers (n = 64; BW = 318 ± 12.3 kg) were assigned to 1 of 2 experimental treatments in a randomized complete block design (8 pens/treatment; 4 steers/pen). Treatments included a control diet (CON; prairie hay (PH), Sweet Bran, dry-rolled corn, and a liquid fat supplement), and a cotton byproduct diet (CTN; cotton gin trash (CGT), whole cottonseed, dry-rolled corn, and water). Both contained urea and a vitamin and mineral supplement. Over the entire feeding period, DMI (P = 0.04), and ADG (P = 0.08) was greater for CTN steers than CON steers with no difference in G:F (P = 0.86). The CTN steers tended to have heavier final BW (P = 0.09) and had a heavier hot carcass weight (P = 0.02), and greater fat thickness (P = 0.03) than CON steers. The CON steers tended to have a lower USDA Yield Grade (P = 0.07), less KPH (P = 0.09), and decreased dressing percentage (P = 0.10) than CTN steers. In experiment 2, six ruminally cannulated steers were used in a crossover design. In-situ bags containing individual ingredients and whole diet samples were incubated in the rumen for up to 96 h in steers consuming the same diets as experiment 1. The A, B, and C fractions, Kd and effective degradability of DM and OM were not different between CON and CTN substrates (P ≥ 0.25). No differences (P ≥ 0.37) were detected for the % NDF disappearance at 48 h between CON and CTN substrates. When the CON substrate was incubated in steers consuming the CON diet, effective degradability of starch was not different (P = 0.84) from when the CTN diet was incubated in steers consuming the CTN diet. These experiments suggests that cotton byproducts can be utilized in finishing diets of beef cattle with no adverse effects on performance or digestibility.
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