Feedlot growth performance and carcass characteristics of steers backgrounded on buffel grass or buffel–Desmanthus mixed pastures
Mwangi, Felista Waithira, Savage, Darryl, Gardiner, Christopher Peter, Charmley, Edward, Malau-Aduli, Bunmi Sherifat, Kinobe, Robert Tumwesigye, and Malau-Aduli, Aduli Enoch Othniel (2022) Feedlot growth performance and carcass characteristics of steers backgrounded on buffel grass or buffel–Desmanthus mixed pastures. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 9. 898325.
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Abstract
Feedlot performance and carcass characteristics of tropical beef steers backgrounded on buffel grass (Cenchrus ciliaris) only or buffel grass oversown with desmanthus (Desmanthus spp. ; 11.5% initial sward botanical composition) were evaluated. It was hypothesized that tropical beef cattle steers backgrounded on buffel grass only or buffel grass oversown with desmanthus with similar backgrounding growth performance will not differ in feedlot growth performance and carcass quality. Three hundred and twelve Bos indicus × Bos taurus tropical composite steers, 20–23 months old and weighing 413 ± 24 kg, previously backgrounded on buffel grass only or buffel-desmanthus mixed pastures for 147 days were finished on a concentrate diet in the feedlot for 110 days before slaughter. Buffel–desmanthus backgrounded steers had a slightly higher average daily gain (ADG; 1.8 kg/day) than the buffel grass backgrounded steers that had 1.7 kg/day ADG (p < 0.01). However, the final live weight and dry matter intake were not different (p ≥ 0.59). All the carcass traits measured were not different (p ≥ 0.18). Only 4% buffel grass and 8% buffel-desmanthus backgrounded steers fell short of the Meat Standards Australia (MSA) index, a level that is within the 4–9% reported for cattle produced in Queensland and slaughtered between July 2019 and June 2020. These findings indicate that desmanthus can be used to background beef cattle in northern Australia vertosol soil regions, where there is a paucity of adapted pasture legumes, with no negative impact on feedlot performance and carcass quality. The hypothesis that tropical beef cattle steers backgrounded on buffel grass only pastures or buffel grass oversown with desmanthus with similar backgrounding growth performance will have similar feedlot growth performance and carcass quality was accepted.
| Item ID: | 76229 |
|---|---|
| Item Type: | Article (Research - C1) |
| ISSN: | 2297-1769 |
| Keywords: | tropical beef cattle, grazing, carcass traits, feedlot finishing, feed to gain ratio |
| Copyright Information: | © 2022 Mwangi, Savage, Gardiner, Charmley, Malau-Aduli, Kinobe and Malau-Aduli. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms |
| Funders: | Cooperative Research Centre Projects (CRC-P) |
| Projects and Grants: | CRC P-58599 |
| Date Deposited: | 04 Oct 2022 23:12 |
| FoR Codes: | 30 AGRICULTURAL, VETERINARY AND FOOD SCIENCES > 3003 Animal production > 300301 Animal growth and development @ 50% 30 AGRICULTURAL, VETERINARY AND FOOD SCIENCES > 3003 Animal production > 300303 Animal nutrition @ 50% |
| SEO Codes: | 10 ANIMAL PRODUCTION AND ANIMAL PRIMARY PRODUCTS > 1004 Livestock raising > 100401 Beef cattle @ 100% |
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