Digestion, feed intake, and live weight gain by cattle consuming bermudagrass hay supplemented with whey.
Three experiments were conducted with cattle consuming bermudagrass hay to determine whether low-level supplements of whey alone, corn alone, or whey plus corn affect feed intake, digestion, and(or) BW gain. Six ruminally and duodenally cannulated beef cows (574 kg), used in a Latin-square trial (Exp. 1), were fed bermudagrass hay without supplementation (control) or with 2.8% whey (low whey, LW), 5.6% whey (high whey, HW), 17.4% ground corn (C), 2.8% whey plus 14.9% corn (C-LW), or 5.6% whey plus 12.4% corn (C-HW). Supplementing with whey and(or) corn increased ruminal butyrate (8.8, 9.4, 10.0, 9.6, 10.5, and 11.0 mol/100 mol of total VFA for control, LW, HW, C, C-LW, and C-HW, respectively; SE = .20). Supplements did not affect microbial N flow at the duodenum. Six Holstein steer calves (158 kg) in a Latin square (Exp. 2) consumed bermudagrass hay ad libitum alone (control) or with .075 or .15% BW whey (LW and HW, respectively), .5% BW ground corn (C), or corn-whey mixes made by substituting whey for corn (C-LW and C-HW). Substituting .15% BW of whey for corn increased (P less than .05) total OM intake slightly (3.99, 3.84, 3.75, 4.11, 4.28, and 4.47 kg for control, LW, HW, C, C-LW, and C-HW, respectively; SE = .10). In an 84-d randomized block experiment (Exp. 3), 96 beef calves (194 kg) consumed (ad libitum) low-quality bermudagrass hay alone or with C, LW, HW, C-LW, or C-HW supplements.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Galloway
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Department of Animal and Poultry Sciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville 72701.
Goetsch
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Sun
W
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Forster
L A
LA
Murphy
G E
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Grant
E W
EW
Johnson
Z B
ZB
D000821:Animal Feed; D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000302:isolation & purification; D002417:Cattle / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000502:physiology; D003611:Dairy Products; D004063:Digestion; D004386:Duodenum / Q000502:physiology; D004435:Eating; D056890:Eukaryota / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005232:Fatty Acids, Volatile / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D005527:Food, Fortified; D008297:Male; D024510:Muscle Development; D006109:Poaceae; D011897:Random Allocation; D012417:Rumen / Q000382:microbiology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000502:physiology; D015430:Weight Gain; D003313:Zea mays
D005232:Fatty Acids, Volatile