Intake pattern and feed sorting of beef cattle fed different sources of corn in a feedlot

Effect of type (barley vs. maize) and processing (grinding vs. dry rolling) of cereal on ruminal fermentation and microbiota of beef calves during the early fattening period

SUMMARYThe type and processing of cereals for beef cattle are key factors to maximize performance without increasing the risk of ruminal acidosis. The current work studied the effect of grinding (G) or dry-rolling (R) the cereals in a concentrate based on maize (M) or barley (B) on the rumen environment of eight 6-month-old Holstein calves, which received either M or B for 70 days, offered as G and R in two consecutive periods. Daily feed intake pattern, rumen fermentation traits, total rumen bacteria and relative proportions ofStreptococcus bovisandSelenomonas ruminantiumwere characterized twice in each period at 0, 4 and 8 h after feeding. Dry-rolling promoted a 0·25 reduction of concentrate intake during the first 4 h after feeding. Neither cereal type nor its processing form promoted differences in ruminal fermentation at 0 and 4 h; however, 8 h after feeding R cereals resulted in higher rumen pH (6·17v.5·71) and lower concentration of lactic acid (88·1v.156 mg/l) and volatile fatty acids (only in diet B, 118v.164 mm/l) compared with G. Little effect of dietary factors in the target rumen microorganisms were observed. The more balanced fermentation observed with R cereals may be explained by the lower concentrate intake promoted during the first 4 h, coupled with a more difficult access of bacterial enzymes to their starch, thus reducing its fermentation rate. Therefore, feeding dry-rolled cereals may be useful to reduce the risk of acidosis by regulating the intake pattern of the concentrate and/or its fermentation rate.

Nutritional exposure is considered the main environmental influence that contributes to gallstone disease (GD). The aim of this study was to determine food intakes patters and estimate risk of GD. A nested case-control study was carried out within the framework of a previous screening study conducted on a representative sample in Rosario, Argentina. Participants underwent a personal interview. Average amount of each food intake and quantity nutrients were estimated applying a food-frequency questionnaire. Food consumption patterns were identified by principal component analysis, and logistic regression analysis was used to estimate risks. The sample was conformed by 51 cases and 69 controls. Two dietary patterns were identified. Cases were characterised by the unhealthy intake pattern (high intakes of animal fats, sugar, cereals, grains, cold cuts, processed meats, chicken with skin, fat beef and low intake of red vegetables and yellows, cabbages, fruits and fish). Controls were characterised by the healthy intake pattern (high intake of skinless chicken, nuts, lean beef, vitamin A and C rich fruits, and low consumption of chicken with skin, green leaves vegetables and sprouts). The unhealthy pattern showed an increased risk of developing GD while healthy patter behaved as a protective factor.

Nutritional disorders like ruminal acidosis are common in Spanish beef production system, in which animals are fed diets with a high content in starch. This experiment studied the effect of feed presentation form (concentrate and straw offered separately, CD, or mixed in form of briquettes, BR) on the pattern of intake, growth and rumen pH of beef cattle fed high concentrate diets. The experiment was performed with 40 Holstein male calves, 32 of them for determining feed intake pattern and productive rates, and the remaining 8, which were previously provided with a ruminal cannula, to monitor rumen pH in two 21-day consecutive periods following a change-over design. Animals fed BR reduced feed intake rate during the first hour after feeding (18.6 vs. 24.0% of daily intake p<0.001), but this diet promoted a lower rumen pH at all sampling times compared with CD (daily average of 5.98 vs. 6.33; p<0.001) and tended to promote a lower total feed intake (7.08 vs. 9.77 kg DM/d; p<0.001) and daily weight gain (1.43 vs. 1.76 kg/d; p=0.056). Offering the concentrate and the straw mixed in form of briquettes is not useful to prevent ruminal acidosis and improve growth, probably due to both a reduced particle size of straw and avoided self-regulation of straw intake along the day.

Feeding fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) seed as potential appetite stimulant to newborn Holstein dairy calves: Effects on meal pattern, ingestive behavior, oro-sensorial preference, and feed sorting

Objective To investigate the dietary pattern of college students and the relationship between the mental health. Methods Stratified cluster random sampling method, using food frequency table, the international physical activity questionnaire, symptom self-assessment scale SCL-90, with four universities of HuaiNan city, the questionnaire survey to 2 000 college students were collected 1 928 valid questionnaires. Using factor analysis and the multi-factor logistic regression model to analyze the data. Results The college students of four major dietary patterns were T1 (intake more flour products, Cereals, meat, animal liver, fish and shrimp, seaweed / fish / seaweed and other sea products, hamburgers and fried foods, preserved foods, nuts, sugar, Coffee), T2(intake more pork, beef and mutton, poultry meat, animal liver, eggs, fish, kelp / fish / seaweed and other marine products), T3(intake more rice products, and products, fresh vegetables, fresh fruit, meat, eggs), T4(intake more eggs, salted products, hamburgers and fried food, snacks, cola, Sprite, sugar) respectively. After adjusted the confounding factors, high T4 dietary intake patterns of college students suffered from anxiety, depression, paranoid riskier (OR=1.62, 95% CI: 1.28-2.04.OR=2.92, 95%CI: 1.03-7.68.OR=1.57, 95%CI: 1.28-1.96.all P<0.05); Compared with T4 dietary patterns, consume more intake T1 type also had a higher risk of anxiety, depression, paranoid (OR=1.32, 95%CI: 1.09-1.67.OR=1.35, 95%CI: 1.09-1.68.OR=1.32, 95%CI: 1.13-1.76.all P<0.05); And dietary pattern of the higher intake of T2 dietary pattern only increased the danger of anxiety and paranoid happen (OR=1.34, 95%CI: 1.08-1.64.OR=1.28, 95%CI: 1.02-1.63.all P<0.05). The diet of T3 could reduce the risk of college students suffer from anxiety, depression, paranoid (OR=55, 95%CI: 0.43-0.69.OR=0.44, 95% CI: 0.32-0.63.OR=0.58, 95%CI: 0.44-0.80.all P<0.05). Conclusion The dietary pattern of college students and mental health are closely related. Key words: Dietary patterns; College students; Mental health

The expansion of the biodiesel industry has created opportunities for crude glycerol use in beef cattle diets. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of substituting sorghum grain with crude glycerol on dry matter intake (DMI), growth performance and feed intake pattern of 28 non-castrated Nelore males with initial body weight (BW) of 441 kg and 21.5 months of age housed in individual or collective pens. Crude glycerol was included at 15% of the ration dry matter as a replacement for sorghum grain. Orts were collected and weighed daily, and DMI was calculated by difference between feed offered and feed refused. Feed intake pattern was determined every two weeks after the beginning of the study in three intervals relative to feed delivery (0-4, 4-10, and 10-24 hours post-feeding). Animals’ BW was obtained on days 1, 14, 28, 42, 56, 70, and 84 days of the trial after a 12-hour solid fasting. Crude glycerol did not alter (P&gt;0.05) DMI, growth performance, hot carcass weight and dressing percentage compared with the control diet. A treatment × days of experiment response (P&lt;0.05) occurred due to a decreased DMI in animals fed crude glycerol during the first 14 days of the trial. Crude glycerol-fed animals decreased (P&lt;0.05) the NDF intake pattern in individual and collective pens. Crude glycerol can be used as a substitute for sorghum grain in beef cattle diets.

A expansão na indústria de biodiesel tem criado oportunidades para o uso do glicerol não refinado em rações de bovinos de corte. Objetivou-se neste estudo determinar os efeitos da substituição do sorgo grão pelo glicerol não refinado sobre o consumo de matéria seca (CMS), ganho de peso e padrão de alimentação de 28 machos Nelore não castrados com peso corporal (PC) inicial de 441 ± 40,2 kg e 21,5 ± 0,5 meses de idade alojados em baias individuais ou coletivas. O experimento teve duração de 98 dias (29 de junho a 5 de outubro de 2015) com período de adaptação de 14 dias e 84 dias para coleta dos dados. Incluiu-se o glicerol não refinado em 15% da matéria seca (MS) da ração como substituto do sorgo grão. As sobras foram coletadas e pesadas diariamente e o CMS foi calculado pela diferença entre o oferecido e sobras. Determinou-se o padrão de alimentação a cada 2 semanas após o início do estudo em 3 intervalos relativos ao início da alimentação (0-4, 4-10 e 10-24 horas pós-alimentação). Obteve-se o PC dos animais nos dias 1, 13, 27, 41, 55, 69 e 83 dias da pesquisa após jejum de sólidos de 12 horas. O glicerol não refinado não alterou (P&gt;0,05) o CMS, ganho de peso, peso da carcaça quente e rendimento de carcaça comparado à dieta controle. Houve resposta (P

Effect of compound feed pelleting and die diameter on rumen fermentation in beef cattle fed high concentrate diets

Submit Manuscript | http://medcraveonline.com Grazing occurs mainly around sunrise and sunset. In grazing sheep, the maximum jaw movement occurs in the late afternoon before sunset. Dairy cows exhibit three main grazing bouts of dawn, afternoon, and dusk. However, the diurnal patterns in grazing appear to vary across seasons. In Western Australia with hot summers and mild winters, the main summer grazing activity occurs during early morning and late afternoon with a smaller activity around midnight. Sheep and cattle likely have comparable grazing patterns in summer. In winter, however, the cattle show intensive grazing activities not only in the morning and afternoon but also during the period from 2000-0100 h. Unlike in summer, in winter, sheep has a progressive grazing activity from 0600 through 1700 with low activity in the evening. Under intensive feeding systems, dairy cows and finishing bulls fed only once daily in the morning exhibit two peaks in eating activity. The greatest one is right after feeding and another around dusk. The eating/ grazing pattern has circadian patterns [1]. Cows seem to stop the morning eating before reaching the maximum rumen capacity. The observation that rumen capacity peaks at dusk but not during the morning and afternoon grazing has implications. It is found that time spent eating during the dusk grazing bout is longer than that during the dawn and afternoon bouts. Moreover, during dawn and afternoon bouts, the cows finish eating before reaching a rumen capacity which was reached during the dusk bout. Therefore, the rumen fill has probably a more significant role in regulating the dusk feed intake compared to dawn and afternoon feed intakes [2,3]. Despite feeding adequate coarse corn silage as 45% of diet dry matter (DM), finishing bulls select the coarse particles for as long as 16-h post-feeding. Such a late selection of the more structured total mixed ration particles is an effort to optimize the intake of long roughage particles. In beef cattle, the herbage allocation time (e.g., 0700 h vs. 1500 h) alters daily patterns in eating, ruminating, and idling behaviors in heifers. The heifers turned unto the ungrazed strip at 0700 h have more intense evening grazing with faster bite rates compared with the heifers allotted the herbage at 1500 h. The morning grazing is 36-39% of total daily grazing time in the latter group but only 25-28% in the former group. The nutritional status of the animal before feeding can affect the postfeeding eating intensity. Fasting, for instance, hastens eating by increasing the bite rate and enlarging the bite mass. However, the data on the effects of feeding strategies on diurnal patterns in feed intake of non-grazing ruminants is scarce [3-5]. The large evening meals in grazing cows are partly linked to an optimal foraging strategy. The plant content of DM and water soluble carbohydrates rises and NDF decreases as day progresses. The accumulation of highly-digestible nutrients in the evening is due to the daylight photosynthesis in plant leaves. This may partly explain why cattle, sheep, and goats prefer the fresh forage grass and legumes harvested at sunset compared to that harvested at sunrise. A higher in vitro true DM digestibility for PM-cut than for AM-cut alfalfa hay is known. Ruminants may have greater feed intake and greater total tract DM digestibility when they are offered the sunset-cut alfalfa hay instead of the sunrise-cut alfalfa hay. The grazing ruminants appear to learn the time of maximum plant nutrient quality, leading to a more intensive eating in the evening than in the morning [4-6].

Feed intake, digestibility and fermentation patterns of beef cattle fed chaff and whole or ground maize grain

Enteric methane (ECH4) emissions from ruminants can be measured directly or indirectly using various techniques and recent reviews have discussed advantages and disadvantages of these techniques. The GLOBAL NETWORK project (GN; an international consortium of animal scientists) examined techniques for measuring ECH4, including respiration chambers, the sulfur hexafluoride tracer (SF6) technique, and techniques based on short-term measurements of gas concentrations in samples of exhaled air. The latter category includes automated head chambers (i.e., the GreenFeed system; GF), use of carbon dioxide as a marker, and (handheld) laser methane detection. The conclusion from this analysis was that “there is no ‘one size fits all’ method for measuring ECH4 emission by individual animals” and appropriate and frequent calibrations and recovery tests are necessary with all methods. The team also concluded that the need for screening large numbers of animals (for example, for genomic studies), does not justify the use of measurement methods that are inaccurate. Timing of sampling/data collection is critical for the spot-sampling techniques, such as GF. It is a well-established fact that ECH4 emission is closely related to animal’s dry matter intake (DMI) and feeding patterns. Therefore, data collection using GF has to be sufficiently long and frequent, during both day and night hours, to fully represent the diurnal patter of ECH4 emission. The in vitro gas production and analysis technique can be used to screen feed additives or other ECH4 mitigation treatments, but data must be always confirmed/supported by animal (preferably long-term) studies. ECH4 emission can be also predicted based on dietary or animal variables. Large databases developed by the GN project have confirmed that DMI is driving ECH4, but other factors, such as dietary neutral detergent fiber, milk yield and composition (dairy cows), or dietary forage inclusion and animal’s body weight (beef cattle) can improve prediction accuracy.

Simple SummaryThis study explored the effects of cold stress on the physiological, blood, and behavioral parameters of beef cattle according to the growth stage. We found that cold stress alters the heart rate, rectal temperature, blood cortisol, glucose, non-esterified fatty acids, and time spent standing at different stages of both beef calves and beef steers. Thus, the finding indicated that physiological, blood, and behavioral changes are potent biomarkers of cold stress in beef cattle.The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of cold stress (CS) on the physiological, blood, and behavioral parameters of beef cattle according to their growth stage. Twelve calves in the growing stages (220.4 ± 12.33 kg, male and non-castrated) and twelve steers in the early fattening stages (314.2 ± 18.44 kg) were used in this experiment. The animals were randomly distributed into three homogenized groups (four animals each) for 14 days, namely threshold, mild–moderate cold stress (MCS), and extreme cold stress (ECS), according to the outside ambient temperature. The feed and water intakes were recorded daily. The physiological parameters, blood parameters, and behavioral patterns were measured weekly. All data were analyzed using repeated-measures analysis. The calves exposed to the ECS decreased (p < 0.064, tendency) their dry matter intake compared to the threshold and MCS groups. The HR and RT increased (p < 0.001) in the ECS compared to the threshold in calves and steers. Moreover, increased (p < 0.05) blood cortisol, non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA), and time spent standing were observed after exposure to ECS in calves and steers. However, the calves exposed to the ECS had decreased (p = 0.018) blood glucose levels compared to the threshold. In conclusion, ECS affects the dry matter intake, HR, RT, blood cortisol, NEFA, and behavioral patterns in beef calves and steers. This phenomenon indicated that beef cattle exposed to CS modulated their behavior and blood parameters as well as their physiological response to maintain homeostasis regardless of the growth stage.

An in vivo and in vitro fermentation study was conducted in conjunction with a feed intake trial to study the effect of controlling rumen pH on feed intake and rumen microbial fermentation patterns in steers fed a 90% concentrate wheat diet. Rumen pH was supported by direct rumen infusion of an equal molar mixture of sodium and potassium hydroxide. Total feed intake was greater (P<.1) for hydroxide (9.87 kg) infused than for the control steers (8.39 kg). Higher period intakes were observed for the infused steers at all times with the exception of hour 2. Rumen pH values were significantly lower (P<.01) for the control steers (5.39 vs 5.88). These data indicate a possible relationship between low rumen pH and cessation of voluntary feed intake. Small differences in in vivo lactate occurred between these two treatments, possibly because of rumen microbial adaptation to a high concentrate diet at the time the study was conducted. However, higher (P<.01) in vitro lactate concentrations were observed in incubations where ruminal fluid source was from the hydroxide infused steers. Differences in volatile fatty acids (VFA) concentrations due to treatment were not large with the exception of valerate, which was appreciably higher (P<.05) in the control animals. Moles/100 moles of acetate and isovalerate were significantly greater and valerate lower in the hydroxide infused versus control steers.

Barley is more extensively and more rapidly fermentable than maize, thus it is supposed to increase digestive disorders in ruminants. However, the effect of cereal type on animal performance and digestion may vary with processing degree. In the present experiment, the effect of dry-rolling or grinding barley and maize, as the main cereals in a concentrate containing a high proportion of starch with different rates of fermentation, on intensively reared beef cattle performance, diet digestibility, and feed intake amount and pattern, was studied. Thirty-six 3-month-old male calves were allocated to one of four diets consisting of barley straw (BS) and a concentrate with 60% cereals (barley and maize in proportions 75:25 or 25:75) presented dry-rolled or ground through a 3.5 mm sieve. The experimental period was divided into two phases of 10 weeks each: from start to 277 ± 3.6 kg live weight (LW; Growing), and from 289 ± 3.8 kg LW to slaughter (399 ± 4.6 kg; Finishing). For the Growing phase, there were no differences (p &gt; 0.10) between the majority cereal in the concentrates, nor between their processing methods, in the daily intake of concentrate and BS, and in the animals’ final LW. With respect to Finishing, the interaction between cereal type and processing was significant (p &lt; 0.05) for concentrate daily intake. As a result, animals consuming ground barley ate less concentrate than those fed rolled barley, whereas there were no differences between processing methods for animals fed maize-based diets. Animals consuming ground-barley concentrates consumed significantly more straw than those fed on dry-rolled-barley concentrates (p &lt; 0.05 for Growing and p &lt; 0.01 for Finishing) during the first four hours after feeding. No such differences appeared in animals consuming maize-based concentrates. Starch digestibility was higher in animals fed ground cereals vs. dry-rolled cereals during the Growing phase (p = 0.048), whereas NDF digestibility was also higher (p = 0.008) in animals fed ground cereals during the Finishing phase. The faeces from animals fed on rolled-maize concentrates showed a higher concentration of purine bases than the faeces of animals fed on rolled-barley concentrates (p = 0.016), although there were no differences for the ground cereals. Overall, the results reported indicated that replacing maize with barley in diets for feedlot beef cattle did not affect average daily gain, intake of straw or concentrate, or feed conversion ratios (total or considering just the concentrate); hence the inclusion of either cereal in greater proportions should be based on their market price and on the final cost of the compound feed (which may include different ingredients). The processing method of the cereals (grinding or dry-rolling) also had no influence on the above-mentioned variables, so the selection of the method should be based on their relative cost, exclusively in terms of feed efficiency.