Open AccessAlfalfa leaf meal in finishing steer diets. Quarterly report, July 1, 1997--September 30, 1997
Author(s) -
C. M. Zehnder,
A. DiCostanzo,
Leslie Smith,
David Brown,
J. M. Hall
Publication year - 1997
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
DOI - 10.2172/621886
Subject(s) - dry matter , soybean meal , zoology , meal , feed conversion ratio , marbled meat , weight gain , randomized block design , carcass weight , body weight , biology , agronomy , food science , raw material , ecology , endocrinology
Ninety-six medium frame, Angus and Angus cross steer calves (average initial weight 540 lb.) were allotted to a heavy or light weight block and then randomly assigned to one of four dietary treatments for a 167 or 189-day finishing phase, respectively. Treatments were control (supplemental soybean meal), alfalfa leaf meal (ALM) providing 33%, 66%, 100% of supplemental protein. Finishing diets were formulated to contain .61 Mcal NE{sub g}/lb dry matter, 12.5% crude protein, .6 % Ca and .3 % P. There were no significant (P >.05) effects of dietary treatments on daily gain or dry matter required /lb of gain. Steers fed 100 % ALM consumed more (P <.05) dry matter than steers fed either of the other three treatments. Dry matter consumption increased linearly (P >.05) with increasing ALM. There was no significant (P >.05) dietary treatment effect on marbling, KPH %, yield grade, quality grade, or liver abscesses. There was an apparent trend in reduced liver abscess incidence in steers fed 100 % ALM. Steers fed 66 % ALM had significantly (P <.05) greater backfat measurements, backfat also had a cubic effect (P <.05). Hot carcass weight had a quadratic relation (P <.05) with level of ALM. Substituting alfalfa leaf meal for soybean meal in diets of finishing steers increased DM intake, but this increase was accompanied by an increase in gain which resulted in similar feed efficiency. There may be an advantage in blending ALM and soybean meal as feed efficiency was improved when cattle were fed the blend. Also, feeding ALM may result in lower incidence of liver abscess