Characterization and effects of DDG on the intake and digestibility of finishing bulls in feedlots

Natalia Vilas Boas Fonseca,Abmael Da Silva Cardoso,Alvair Hoffmann,Marcia Helena Machado Da Rocha Fernandes,Rhaony Gonçalves Leite,Ricardo Andrade Reis,Adriana Cristina Ferrari

doi:10.4025/actascianimsci.v43i1.51877

Natalia Vilas Boas Fonseca, Abmael Da Silva Cardoso + Show 5 more

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https://doi.org/10.4025/actascianimsci.v43i1.51877

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to characterize four corn and sorghum co-products (DDG) in terms of their protein and carbohydrate fractions; we also evaluated the effects of substituting the protein source of the conventional supplement by DDG on consumption and nutrient digestibility in confined finishing cattle. Thirty-six male Nellore cattle with a mean age of 24 months were used. The treatments were: FA: concentrate with corn as an energy source and cottonseed meal as a protein source; DDG50: concentrate with a 50% substitution of the FA protein source by DDG; DDG100: concentrate with 100% substitution of the FA protein source by DDG. The experimental design was completely randomized with three treatments and three replicates (pens) containing four animals per pen. We found that the use of DDG in the finishing phase did not interfere with the animals’ food intake or the digestibility of the nutrients (p > 0.05). Nutrients were used by the animals; therefore, DDGs may be viable substitutes of cottonseed meal. We conclude that the bromatological composition of this co-product is influenced a lot during processing; therefore, the nutritional values of this co-product present in the composition tables may not be true.

Highlights

Our aim in this study was to characterize four corn and sorghum dried distiller’s grains (DDG) in terms of their protein and carbohydrate fractions; we evaluated the effects of substituting the protein source of the conventional supplement by DDG on the consumption and the digestibility of nutrients by confined finishing cattle
There was no statistical difference in dry matter intake, neutral detergent fiber (NDF), energy, crude protein (CP), OM, ether extract (EE), total carbohydrates (TC), and non-fibrous carbohydrates (NFC) between diets; there were no significant differences among nutrient digestibilities (p > 0.05, Table 2)
DDG is a more fibrous co-product in relation to other concentrates and this characteristic may possibly interfere with dry matter and nutrient consumption; the fiber content, is variable, mainly owing to the processing conditions of DDG (Li, Li, Yang, & Beauchemin, 2012)

Summary

Introduction

Livestock farming is a very important part of the Brazilian agribusiness sector. The significant growth of livestock farming has led to the pursuit of alternatives in order to increase production and profitability, as traditional livestock farming systems have proved to be economically inefficient. The intensification of production systems appears to be a viable strategy (Romanzini, Bernardes, Munari, Reis, & Malheiros, 2018). In intensive farming systems the cost of production increases, reducing the profitability of the system; alternatives that use less expensive products and nutritional quality in animal feed are becoming increasingly attractive

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