• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.655-659
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• 2003

Forty eight lambs (24 each of Malpura and Mutton synthetic breeds) were weaned at 90 days of age and divided into two groups. One group of 12 lambs from each of the two breeds was maintained on low energy (52% TDN) and the other group of 12 on high energy (58% TDN) feedlot ration until 6 of the lambs attained 20 kg and the other 6 attained 25 kg live weight in each of the two groups. Daily feed intake and weekly body weights were recorded. Conventional metabolism trials were conducted on the two breeds and the two rations. The growth rate was found to be higher for lambs on high energy ration (p<0.01). The growth rate was also higher for higher target weight groups (p<0.01). The breed did not significantly affect the live weight gains. Mutton synthetic lambs required less number of days to reach 20 kg live weights but took more time to reach 25 kg target weight as compared to Malpura lambs (p<0.01). The lambs of both the breeds reached 25 kg live weight earlier on high energy than those on low energy ration (p<0.01). The dry matter intake, irrespective of breed, was significantly higher (4.57% or 93.4 g per kgW$^{0.75}$) on low energy than that on high energy ration (4.20% or 87.2 g per kg W$^{0.75}$). The digestibility coefficients of all the nutrients excepting crude fibre were significantly higher on high energy diet irrespective of the breed. Lambs on low energy ration, however, digested the crude fibre more than those on the high energy ration (p<0.05). Although there were no significant differences in the intakes of nitrogen, calcium and phosphorus, the balance of nitrogen was higher on high energy ration. The DCP and TDN values were 9.70 and 52.76% for low energy and 9.89 and 57.68 % for high energy ration, respectively. The dressing percentages on live weight basis were 50.2 on low and 51.6 on high energy ration, 50.5 at 20kg and 51.3 at 25 kg slaughter weight and 51.0 in Malpura and 50.8 in Mutton synthetic lambs, respectively. The percent of bones in the carcass was higher on low energy ration in Mutton synthetic lambs at 20 kg slaughter weight than others. It was concluded that the performance of the lambs in respect of mutton production was significantly better on high energy ration fed upto 25 kg slaughter weight with no or little breed differences.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.10
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• pp.1450-1454
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• 2006

Three hundred and seventy-five steers (approximately 7 mo of age and $239.0{\pm}10.4kg$) were utilized to determine the effects of trace mineral (TM) supplementation and source on performance during the on-farm backgrounding and feedlot receiving phases of beef cattle production. At their respective ranches, steers were stratified by body weight into six groups. Groups were then assigned to one of six pens and pens were randomly assigned to treatments. Treatments consisted of: 1) control (no supplemental Cu, Zn, Mn, and Co), 2) inorganic trace mineral ($CuSO_4$, $ZnSO_4$, $MnSO_4$, and $CoCO_3$), and 3) organic trace mineral (iso-amounts of organic Cu, Zn, Mn, and Co). Mineral treatments were fed in alfalfa pellets formulated to supply 360 mg of Zn, 200 mg of Mn, 125 mg of Cu, and 12.5 mg of Co per head per day from either organic or inorganic trace mineral sources. Control steers received alfalfa pellets with no additional Cu, Zn, Mn, or Co. Steers were allowed free access to harvested alfalfa-grass hay throughout the 30-d on-farm backgrounding phase. On day 30 post-weaning, steers were weighed and transported to the feedlot. Steers were blocked by treatment within ranch, stratified by initial body weight, and randomly assigned to one of 36 pens (9-12 head per pen; 12 pens per treatment). Steers remained on the same on-farm backgrounding trace mineral treatments, however, trace mineral treatments were included in the total mixed growing ration. Steers were fed a corn silage-based growing diet throughout the 28 d feedlot receiving period. There was no effect of TM supplementation on performance of steers during the on-farm backgrounding phase. By the end of the 28-d feedlot receiving phase, ADG was similar between control and trace mineral supplemented steers. Steers supplemented with organic TM had greater (p<0.05) ADG than steers supplemented with inorganic TM by the end of the 28-d feedlot receiving phase. Morbidity and mortality rates were similar across treatments.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.62-74
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• 1998

In feedlot cattle the abrupt change of diet from roughage to a large quantity of grain for the purpose to improve production often results in increased occurrence of rumen acidosis or acute carbohydrate encouragement enterotoxemia, bloats diarrhea liver abscess and laminitis or robot disease. The common management practice to control these problem is to increase the amount of concentrates in the diet in a stepwise manner until the animals are adapted to a high-grain ration. However this practice requires at least about 3 weeks adaptation period and specially prepared adaptation rations which contain various amount of concentrates. Present experiment was undertaken in order to findout the more simple and rapid adaptation method of cattle to a high grain ration. Nineteen Korean calves aging from four to six month were fed artifical hay (Youngchoun Chuk-Hyup, Korea) which contains 10% of concentrates or alfalfa and rye grass hays for two months and randomly alloted to three experimental groups and two control groups. The experimental group-1 was inoculated by stomach tube for two days with li500 ml/day of ruminal fluid fished from Korean beef cattle that had been previously adapted to a high-energy ration. The experimental group-2 was inoculated by trocalization for two days with the same ruminal fluid. The experimental group-3 was inoculated by trocalization with 1,500 ml/day of bacterial culture which contained 2$\times $10$^{9}$/m1 of Gram-negative bacteria derived from adapted luminal fluid. The two control groups were treated with normal saline solution by the same methods. All animals were fed high-energy ration that contained 80% of grain ad libitum for 30-74 days beginning on the third of the treatment. The effect of the inoculation on the adaptation was observed clinicopathologically with the following results; All of the experimental calves inoculated with the ruminal fluid or Gram-negative bacterial culture derived from adapted cattle did not show any signs of rumen acidosis or other related diseases, while most of the control calves did show diarrhea and bloat and a calf laminitis. The average daily weight gain and feed efficiency of experimental calves were slightly improved compared with control calves. Following the feeding of high-grain rational the pH of the ruminal fluid was lowered in both the experimental and control groups. However severe acidosis with the pH of below 5.0 was observed in only a control group-2. The protozoal number in ruminal fluid was markedly decreased during the high-grain feeding in both the experimental and control calves. However the decrease was mere severe in control calves compared with the experimental calves. The activation of the protozoa were completely disappeared within nine hours at the refrigerator temperature (4"C). No significant differences in heamatological and blood chemical values between the experimental and control calves were recognized. However in one control calf which showed clinically laminitis marked elevations of serum glutamic oxaloacetate transaminase and lactic dehydrogenase activities and a decrease of serum glucose level were observed. From these results it would be concluded the intraruminal transplantation of unadapted calves with the adapted ruminal fluid from cattle previously adapted to a high-energy ration prevents disease problem associated with high-grain feeding and improve weight gain and feed efficiency.ency.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.372-377
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• 2016

The objectives of the trial were to investigate the effects of supplementing vitamin E (VE) on nutrient digestion, nitrogen (N) retention and plasma parameters of beef cattle in feedlot. Four growing Simmental bulls, fed with a total mixed ration composed of corn silage and concentrate mixture as basal ration, were used as the experimental animals. Four levels of VE product, i.e. 0, 150, 300, 600 mg/head/d (equivalent to 0, 75, 150, 300 IU VE/head/d), were supplemented to the basal ration (VE content 38 IU/kg dry matter) in a $4{\times}4$ Latin square design as experimental treatments I, II, III and IV, respectively. Each experimental period lasted 15 days, of which the first 12 days were for pretreatment and the last 3 days for sampling. The results showed that supplementing VE did not affect the nutrient digestibility (p>0.05) whereas decreased the urinary N excretion (p<0.01), increased the N retention (p<0.05) and tended to increase the microbial N supply estimated based on the total urinary purine derivatives (p = 0.057). Supplementing VE increased the plasma concentrations of VE, glucose and triglycerol (TG) (p<0.05) and tended to increase the plasma concentration of total protein (p = 0.096) whereas did not affect the plasma antioxidant indices and other parameters (p>0.05). It was concluded that supplementing VE up to 300 IU/head/d did not affect the nutrient digestibility whereas supplementing VE at 150 or 300 IU/head/d increased the N retention and the plasma concentrations of VE and TG (p<0.05) of beef cattle.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.1034-1041
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• 2020

Objective: The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the effect of shade allocation and shade plus fan on growth performance, dietary energy utilization and carcass characteristics of feedlot cattle under tropical ambient conditions Methods: Two trials were conducted, involving a total of 1,560 young bulls (289±22 kg BW) assigned to 24 pens (65 bulls/pen and 6 pens/treatment). Pens were 585 ㎡ with 15 m fence line feed bunks. Shade treatments (㎡ shade/animal) were: i) limited shade (LS) to 1.2 ㎡ shade/animal (LS_1.2); ii) limited shade to 2.4 ㎡ shade/animal (LS_2.4); iii) total shade (TS) which correspond to 9 ㎡/animal, and iv) total shade equipped with fans (TS+F). Trials lasted 158 and 183 days. In both studies, the average weekly maximum temperature exceeded 34℃. Results: Increasing shade allocation tended (p = 0.08) to linearly increases average daily gain (ADG), and dry matter intake (DMI, quadratic effect, p = 0.03). This effect was most apparent between LS_1.2 and LS_2.4. Shade allocation, per se, did not affect gain efficiency or estimated dietary net energy (NE). Compared with TS, TS+F increased (p<0.05) ADG, gain efficiency, and tended (p = 0.06) to increase dietary NE. There was a quadratic effect of shade on longissimus area and marbling score, with values being lower (p<0.01) for LS_2.4 than for LS_1.2 or TS. Likewise, marbling score was lower for TS+F than for TS. Percentage kidney, pelvic, and heart (KPH) linearly decreased with increasing shade. In contrast, KPH was greater for TS than for TS+F. Conclusion: Providing more than 2.4 ㎡ shade/animal will not further enhance feedlot performance. The use of fans in combination with shade increases ADG and gain efficiency beyond that of shade, alone. These enhancements were not associated with increased DMI, but rather, to an amelioration of ambient temperature humidity index on maintenance energy requirement.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.392-399
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• 2017

Objective: The objectives were to assess the effects of purified lignin from wheat straw (sodium hydroxide dehydrated lignin; SHDL) on in vitro ruminal fermentation and on the growth performance of feedlot cattle. Methods: In vitro experiments were conducted by incubating a timothy-alfalfa (50:50) forage mixture (48 h) and barley grain (24 h) with 0, 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 mg/mL of rumen fluid (equivalent to 0, 2, 4, 8, and 16 g SHDL/kg diet). Productions of $CH_4$ and total gas, volatile fatty acids, ammonia, dry matter (DM) disappearance (DMD) and digestion of neutral detergent fiber (NDF) or starch were measured. Sixty Hereford-Angus cross weaned steer calves were individually fed a typical barley silage-barley grain based total mixed ration and supplemented with SHDL at 0, 4, 8, and 16 g/kg DM for 70 (growing), 28 (transition), and 121 d (finishing) period. Cattle were slaughtered at the end of the experiment and carcass traits were assessed. Results: With forage, SHDL linearly (p<0.001) reduced 48-h in vitro DMD from 54.9% to 39.2%, NDF disappearance from 34.1% to 18.6% and the acetate: propionate ratio from 2.56 to 2.41, but linearly (p<0.001) increased $CH_4$ production from 9.5 to 12.4 mL/100 mg DMD. With barley grain, SHDL linearly increased (p<0.001) 24-h DMD from74.6% to 84.5%, but linearly (p<0.001) reduced $CH_4$ production from 5.6 to 4.2 mL/100 mg DMD and $NH_3$ accumulation from 9.15 to $4.49{\mu}mol/mL$. Supplementation of SHDL did not affect growth, but tended (p = 0.10) to linearly reduce feed intake, and quadratically increased (p = 0.059) feed efficiency during the finishing period. Addition of SHDL also tended (p = 0.098) to linearly increase the saleable meat yield of the carcass from 52.5% to 55.7%. Conclusion: Purified lignin used as feed additive has potential to improve feed efficiency for finishing feedlot cattle and carcass quality.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.187-193
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• 2014

As a result of the cost of grains, the replacement of grains by co-products (i.e. DDGS) in feedlot diets is a common practice. This change produces diets that contain a lower amount of starch and greater amount of fibre. Hypothetically, combining feed grade urea (U) with slow release urea (Optigen) in this type of diet should elicit a better synchrony between starch (high-rate of digestion) and fibre (low-rate of digestion) promoting a better microbial protein synthesis and ruminal digestion with increasing the digestible energy of the diet. Four cannulated Holstein steers ($213{\pm}4$ kg) were used in a $4{\times}4$ Latin square design to examine the combination of Optigen and U in a finishing diet containing different starch:acid detergent fibre ratios (S:F) on the characteristics of digestive function. Three S:F ratios (3.0, 4.5, and 6.0) were tested using a combination of U (0.80%) and Optigen (1.0%). Additionally, a treatment of 4.5 S:F ratio with urea (0.80% in ration) as the sole source of non-protein nitrogen was used to compare the effect of urea combination at same S:F ratio. The S:F ratio of the diet was manipulated by replacing the corn grain by dried distillers grain with solubles and roughage. Urea combination did not affect ruminal pH. The S:F ratio did not affect ruminal pH at 0 and 2 h post-feeding but, at 4 and 6 h, the ruminal pH decreased as the S:F ratio increased (linear, p<0.05). Ruminal digestion of OM, starch and feed N were not affected by urea combination or S:F ratio. The urea combination did not affect ADF ruminal digestion. ADF ruminal digestion decreased linearly (p = 0.02) as the S:F ratio increased. Compared to the urea treatment (p<0.05) and within the urea combination treatment (quadratic, p<0.01), the flow of microbial nitrogen (MN) to the small intestine and ruminal microbial efficiency were greater for the urea combination at a S:F ratio of 4.5. Irrespective of the S:F ratio, the urea combination improved (2.8%, p = 0.02) postruminal N digestion. As S:F ratio increased, OM digestion increased, but ADF total tract digestion decreased. The combination of urea at 4.5 S:F improved (2%, p = 0.04) the digestible energy (DE) more than expected. Combining urea and Optigen resulted in positive effects on the MN flow and DE of the diet, but apparently these advantages are observed only when there is a certain proportion of starch:ADF in the diet.