Abstract
A study was conducted to investigate the development of the digestive organs (rumen, reticulum, abomasums, small intestine, large intestine and rectum) and other internal organs (liver, spleen, lungs and heart) of Hanwoo (Korean cattle) steers fed diets of compound feed and rice straw by the age from 6 to 30 months old. In the experiment, Two hundreds of Hanwoo steers were allocated in one of two compound feed feeding treatments. The treatment groups were 1) feeding level 1 group fed 1.2 to 1.5% compound feed per kg body weight (BW) in the growing period, 1.7 to 1.8% compound feed per kg BW in the early fattening period, and compound feed ad libitum in the late fattening period and 2) feeding level 2 group fed compound feed ad libitum through the whole period. In every two months, eight steers in each group were slaughtered and the length and weight of the organs of the animals were measured. The weight of the reticulo-rumen was higher (p<0.05) in the group 2 at the age of 14 months. The abomasum weight of group 2 was higher than that of group 1 at the ages of 12 (p<0.01) and 20 months (p<0.05). The weights of the liver, lung and heart of steers in the group 2 were higher (p<0.05) than those in group 1 before 18 months old. At the ages of 8 (p<0.1), 10 (p<0.001), 12 (p<0.01), 16 (p<0.01) and 24 months (p<0.05), the abomasum of steers in the group 1 was longer than that in the group 2. The length of liver in both groups was sharply increased from 6 to 8 months old and then the increase was steady, while the length in the group 2 at the age of 12 months was significantly longer (p<0.01) than that in the group 1. The results indicate that the most organs examined showed the higher development in the feeding level 2 than in the feeding level 1 until the age before 18 months when the steers in the feeding level group 1 were given the compound feed ad libitum. (Asian-Aust. J. Anim. Sci. 2003. Vol 16, No. 9 : 1315-1319)
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