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Effects of oat hay and leguminous forage mixture feeding on enteric methane emission, energy utilization, and feed conversion efficiency in male crossbred Simmental beef cattle
Author(s) -
Du Wuchen,
Hou Fujiang,
Tsunekawa Atsushi,
Kobayashi Nobuyuki,
Peng Fei,
Ichinohe Toshiyoshi
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
animal science journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.606
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1740-0929
pISSN - 1344-3941
DOI - 10.1111/asj.13472
Subject(s) - hay , forage , crossbreed , feed conversion ratio , zoology , beef cattle , biology , chemistry , agronomy , body weight , endocrinology
Dietary manipulation has the potential to mitigate methane (CH 4 ) emission and to maintain or enhance livestock productivity. We conducted two experiments to investigate the effects of replacing oat hay by leguminous forages (alfalfa hay [AH], 0, 8, 16, and 24%, experiment 1; common vetch hay [CVH], 0, 10, 20, and 30%, experiment 2) on energy metabolism of crossbred Simmental cattle. In experiment 1, total volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentrations increased quadratically with increasing AH proportions ( p = .006) with a forage‐to‐concentrate ratio of approximately 50:50, whereas the CH 4 energy to gross energy intake ratio (CH 4 ‐E:GEI) was significantly lower with 16% AH compared with 24% AH diet ( p < .05). In experiment 2, there were no differences in the total VFA concentrations among the four diet groups with a forage‐to‐concentrate ratio of around 60:40 ( p > .05); however, CH 4 ‐E:GEI was significantly lower in the 30% CVH diet compared with the 10% CVH diet ( p < .05). There was no significant difference in feed conversion efficiency among the four diet groups in each experiment. The results suggest that substituting 16 and 30% oat hay by AH and CVH provide optimal diets with forage‐to‐concentrate ratios of 50:50 and 60:40, respectively, which may reduce CH 4 emission without compromising the feed conversion efficiency of crossbred Simmental cattle.