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Comparison of feeding systems: feed cost, palatability and environmental impact among hay‐fattened beef, consistent grass‐only‐fed beef and conventional marbled beef in Wagyu (Japanese Black cattle)
Author(s) -
SITHYPHONE Khounsaknalath,
YABE Mitsuyasu,
HORITA Hiroshi,
HAYASHI Keisuke,
FUMITA Tomiko,
SHIOTSUKA Yuji,
ETOH Tetsuji,
EBARA Fumio,
SAMADMANIVONG Olavanh,
WEGNER Jochen,
GOTOH Takafumi
Publication year - 2011
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/j.1740-0929.2010.00836.x
Subject(s) - palatability , marbled meat , hay , beef cattle , zoology , food science , taste , cattle feeding , mathematics , biology , dairy cattle
The objective of this article is to compare feed cost, palatability and environmental impacts among feeding systems of high concentrate (HC), high hay (HH) and grass‐only‐fed (Gof) groups. Feed cost was the sum of costs paid for feed intake times the price of feed per kilogram. Palatability was measured by a panel taste test using HH and Gof beef and analyzed for differences. Environmental impacts were calculated based on 1 kg of Japanese beef yield of CO 2 equivalents (eq) and animal end weights at each feeding stage. Results showed that the HH and Gof feeding systems could significantly reduce feed costs by approximately 60% and 78%, respectively, from the HC. In the panel taste test, 50% and 47.50% of panelists indicated that HH beef was ‘extremely delicious’ and ‘acceptable,’ respectively, while 15% indicated that Gof beef was ‘extremely delicious’; 62.50% indicated that Gof beef was ‘acceptable.’ Environmental impacts of each feeding system in terms of CO 2 equivalents (eq) were 9.32, 6.10 and 2.04 tonnes of eq for the HC, HH and Gof, respectively. The HH was an economical system that produced moderate impacts on the environment and had impressive taste.