Growth performance and carcass characteristics of Tanzania Shorthorn Zebu cattle finished on molasses or maize grain with rice or maize by-products
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Date
2015-11-03
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Elsevier Inc.
Abstract
Forty five steers (2.5–3.0 years of age and 200 7 5 (SEM) kg body weight) were allotted randomly into
five diets to assess the effects of finishing Tanzania Shorthorn Zebu (TSZ) cattle in feedlot using diets
based on either molasses or maize grain combined with maize or rice by-products. The diets were hay
and concentrate mixtures of hominy feed with molasses (HFMO), rice polishing with molasses (RPMO),
hominy feed with maize meal (HFMM), rice polishing with maize meal (RPMM) and a control of maize
meal with molasses (MMMO). All concentrate mixtures contained cotton seed cake, mineral mixture, salt
and urea. Both hay and concentrate were fed ad libitum and with free access to drinking water for 90
days. Feed intake, body weights and carcass characteristics were recorded. The daily total dry matter
intake (DMI, kg/day) was greater (Po 0.05) in molasses based diets (7.64 for RPMO and 7.35 for HFMO)
than in maize grain based diets (6.94, 6.73 and 6.19 for RPMM, MMMO and HFMM, respectively). Energy
intake was highest (P o0.05) in HFMO (86 MJ/day) and lowest in RPMM (69 MJ/day). Crude protein
intake was highest in HFMO (867 g/day) and lowest in RPMO (725 g/day). Feed conversion ratio (kg feed
DMI/kg gain) was lower (P o0.05) for steers fed on HFMM (7.87) and HFMO (8.09) than those fed on
MMMO (10.4), RPMM (11.0) and RPMO (11.5). Steers fed on HFMO had the highest (Po 0.05) daily weight
gain (919 g/day), total weight gain (83 kg), final live weight (283 kg), empty body weight (268 kg) and
hot carcass weight (151 kg). The proportion of internal fat to empty body weight (2.7%) in steers fed on
HFMO was higher (P o0.05) than those from other diets. Nevertheless, all carcasses showed relatively
high fat cover (1.1–1.6 cm). It is concluded that agro-processing by products are good feed resources for
finishing TSZ cattle in feedlots with formulations based on molasses being superior over those based on
maize meal, and hominy feed being superior over rice polishing. A combination of molasses and hominy
feed (HFMO) could be used successfully as an alternative to maize meal in finishing TSZ cattle in feedlot.
Description
Journal Article
Keywords
Weight gain, Carcass characteristics, Feedlot, Agro-processing by-products