Fresh Chopped Sugar Cane in Growing - Finishing Steer Diets

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A digestibility trial was conducted to compare a high fiber (CP 59-73) and a low fiber (CP 68-1026) sugar cane variety. Both varieties were fed as fresh chopped material in diets containing 62 to 63% dry matter (DM) supplied by sugar cane. Neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) levels (percentage of DM) were 49.2 and 30.8% for CP 59-73 and 44.8 and 28.3% for CP 68-1026. Digestibilities of DM, organic matter, NDF and ADF were 63.8, 62.3, 39.4 and 32.6%, respectively, for the diets containing CP 59-73, and 63.0, 62.4, 34.7 and 27.2% for those containing CP 68-1026. Differences between diets in NDF and ADF digestibility were significant (P<.10). A 95-day feedlot trial was conducted with 40 yearling steers to compare diets containing either CP 59-73 or CP 68-1026 at both 30 and 60% of the diet DM. No significant difference in steer performance or carcass measurements due to variety of sugar cane was observed. Steers fed diets with 30% sugar cane DM had higher (all P<.01) average daily gains (1.72 vs 1.30 kg), dressing percentage (55.50 vs 51.94), quality grade (Good vs Standard), fat thickness over the loineye (1.01 vs .50 cm), percentage kidney fat (2.53 vs 1.63) and yield grade (2.83 vs 2.08). Steers fed 30% diets had a higher DM intake (10.97 vs 9.97 kg/day) and a lower DM to gain ratio (8.58 vs 10.62). A 133-day feedlot trial was conducted with 32 steer calves to compare diets containing 20, 39, 58 or 77% sugar cane DM. With increasing percentages of sugar cane in the diet, there were linear decreases in average daily gain (1.59, 1.42, 1.07 and .86 kg; P<.01), dressing percentage (57.9, 55.6, 53.3 and 50.9%; P<.01), quality grade (Good, Good, Standard+ and Standard; P<.01), loineye area (70.3, 72.3, 62.6 and 63.2 cm2; P<.05), fat thickness over the loineye (.76, .96, .53 and .53 cm; P<.01), percentage kidney fat (2.4, 2.3, 1.6 and 1.4%; P<.01) and yield grade (2.4, 2.4, 2.1 and 1.8%; P<.05). Data from feedlot trial 2 showed a high correlation between the percentage of sugar cane DM in the diet and both DM intake as a percentage of body weight (r = −.93) and DM to gain ratio (r = .98).