Honkavaara, M.

Huuskonen, A.

Pesonen, M.

Jukuri

23/03/16	1	© Natural Resources Institute Finland  atural esources Institute Finland Pesonen, M., Huuskonen, A. & Honkavaara, M. Natural Resources Institute Finland Green Technology Performance and beef quality of growing bulls offered whole crop legume-cereal and alsike clover silages Animal Research Science Seminar 11.02.2015, University of Helsinki, Viikki Campus Maiju Pesonen © Natural Resources Institute Finland Outline •  Background •  Objectives •  Materials & methods •  Results •  Conclusions 23/03/16	2	© Natural Resources Institute Finland Background •  However, there is paucity of published information:  a)  on performance,  b)   carcass characteristics  c)  meat quality  Ø  of growing bulls when grass silage is replaced by whole crop legume-cereal or alsike clover silages 1)  Alsike clover is an interesting alternative forage crop Ø  Well suited to acidic, organic soils 2)  Producing whole crop small grain cereal silages provides an opportunity to improve the efficiency of forage production for ruminants under Northern European conditions Ø  Cost effective, wide harvest window, high yield, benefits in manure spreading and ley re-establishment ect. ect.  •  Especially in organic farming systems using different clovers is a conventional approach and annual legumes are often sown with cereals  Ø  Nitrogen fixing, soil improvement effect ect. Ø  Legumes can enhance the nutritional quality of the cereal whole crop silage  © Natural Resources Institute Finland Objective On the production traits: Ø  on animal performance  ü intake, growth, carcass characteristics Ø  beef quality ü pH, marbling, drip loss, shear force, colour, sensory analysis Ø  beef fatty acid profile Our objective was to determine the effects of  silage plant species:  Ø  whole crop legume-cereal silage vs. grass Ø  alsike clover silage vs. grass On growing beef bulls: Ø Aberdeen Angus Ø Nordic Red 23/03/16	3	© Natural Resources Institute Finland •  Beef & Milk production is concentrated in the Ostrobothnian and North Savo region Ø  These are the main grass production areas in Finland •  Natural Resources Institute Finland Beef Research facility is situated in Ruukki, Siikajoki Ø  New, modern barn 2013 © Natural Resources Institute Finland Materials & methods 1 •  The experiment comprised in total: ü 50 Aberdeen Angus bulls ü 50 Nordic Red bulls  Ø  Four five animal pens / treatment Ø  Two pens of each breed / treatment •  The feed intake was measured and recorded with GrowSafe feed intake system Ø Each pen contained two GrowSafe feeder nodes  •  During the experiment, the bulls were housed in an uninsulated barn  ü Peat-straw mixture was used as bedding ü Space allowance / bull 10.0 m2  23/03/16	4	© Natural Resources Institute Finland Materials & methods 2 •  The grass silage was the regrowth from a timothy (Phleum pratense) sward (TS) •  Alsike clover (Trifolium hybridum) was harvested at flowering state (AS) •  Two legume-cereal mixtures: ü Faba bean (Vicia faba) + wheat (FW) ü Pea (Pisum sativum) + wheat (PW) Ø  All silages were preserved in bunker silos & treated with formic acid based additive Feeds TS AS FW PW Barley Dry matter (DM), g/kg feed 289 295 277 269 883 Crude protein, g/kg DM 129 164 154 174 107 NDF, g/kg DM 580 450 465 427 210 Metabolisable energy, MJ/kg DM 10,1 9,6 9,7 9,7 13,2 Digestible OM in DM, g/kg DM 629 603 608 608 821 pH 3,96 4,10 3,79 3,98 •  The crude protein content was 19 % higher in FW, 35 % higher in PW and 21 %higher in AS than in TS •  TS had 4 % higher ME content than the whole crop legume-cereal silages •  TS had 5 % higher ME content than the alsike clover silage © Natural Resources Institute Finland Materials & methods 3 – Total Mixed Ration •  The composition of the diets were: Ø  All the TMRs had 650 g/kg forage and 350 g/kg cereal in the DM Ø  The cereal was rolled barley Ø  The TMR was offered for the bulls ad libitum TMR (65:35) TSB TASB 50:50 ASB FWB PWB Dry matter (DM), g/kg feed 378 381 385 365 356 Crude protein, g/kg DM 121 133 144 138 151 NDF, g/kg DM 451 408 366 376 351 Metabolisable energy, MJ/kg DM 11,2 11 10,9 10,9 10,9 Digestible OM in DM, g/kg DM 696 688 679 683 683 Protein balance in the rumen, g/kg DM -2 7 16 11 22 •  Due to differences in composition of the experimental silages the FWB, PWB, TASB and ASB rations had 9-25% more crude protein than the TSB Ø  Protein over feeding? Ø  In all rations the PBV value fullfilled the Finnish recommendation for growing cattle (PBV above -10 g/kg DM for animals over 200 kg LW) 23/03/16	5	© Natural Resources Institute Finland Materials & methods 4 Statistical model included: •  the effects of  diet, breed and their interaction •  the effect of the slaughtering batch •  the effect of pen was used as an error term when differences between treatments were compared because treatments were allocated to animals penned together •  initial live weight as a covariate in the model •  Differences between the treatments were tested using orthogonal contrasts:       Since the interactions between breed and feeding treatments were not statistically significant, the interactions are not presented Feeding experiment 1: 1)  Breed (Ab vs. Nordic Red)  2)  Diet (Grass silage diet vs. WCLC-silage diets)  3)  Whole crop legume-cereal silage diets (Faba bean vs. Pea)  Feeding experiment 2: 1)  Breed (Ab vs. Nordic Red)  2)  Linear effect of alsike clover inclusion  3)  Quadratic effect of alsike clover incl. 4)  Linear interaction between breed and alsike clover incl. 5)  Quadratic interaction between breed and alsike clover incl. © Natural Resources Institute Finland Results 1 – Duration, liveweights & age •  The Nordic Red bulls weighed in average 115 kg less than the Angus bulls in the begining of the experiment •  The final live weight was in average 104,6 kgs higher for the Angus bulls 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 TSB TASB ASB FWB PWB TSB TASB ASB FWB PWB Angus Nordic Red Days Kg Inital live weight, kg Final live weight, kg Experiment duration, d Slaughter age, d •  The duration on the experiment was in average 49 days shorter for the Angus •  PWB diet tended to shorten the duration of the experiment (P=0,02) •  There were no differences in the slaughter age Slaughter age: 500 days 23/03/16	6	© Natural Resources Institute Finland Results 2 – Feed intake •  The total DMI of the Angus bulls was 12 % higher Ø  Daily ME and CP intakes were higher for Angus bulls (exp 1. P=0,005;  exp 2. P=0,003) •  DMI relation to LW was 11 % higher in the Nordic Red bulls (exp 1. P=0,01; exp 2. <0,001) Angus Nordic Red TSB TASB ASB FWB PWB TSB TASB ASB FWB PWB Dry Matter, kg/d 12,20 12,45 12,01 13,40 12,15 10,95 10,87 10,97 12,33 10,44 DMI, g/kg live weight 20,5 21,0 20,4 22,6 20,5 22,6 23,2 23,0 25,2 23,1 Metaboliz able energy (ME), MJ/d 136 136 131 143 132 123 119 120 132 113 Crude protein, g/d 1457 1635 1707 1840 1834 1317 1432 1561 1688 1565 •  The FBW diet tended to increase DM and energy intakes (P=0,006) •  CP intake were higher with whole crop legume silage and alsike clover diets  (exp 1. and exp. 2 <0,001) © Natural Resources Institute Finland Results 3 - Feed conversion ü  Angus bulls used 4,36 kg less feed DM and needed 47,6 MJ less feed energy for 1 kg carcass gain than the Nordic Red bulls   ü  Angus bulls were in average 23 % more efficient in converting the feed to carcass gain than the Nordic Red bulls Angus Nordic Red TSB TASB ASB FWB PWB TSB TASB ASB FWB PWB Kg DM/kg carcass gain 13,9 14,3 15,6 16,1 14,1 19,4 19,7 19,0 19,8 17,9 MJ ME/kg carcass gain 151 156 174 172 154 211 216 212 212 194 g CP/kg carcass gain 1688 1845 2188 2223 2154 2236 2499 2636 2714 2641 ü  The PWB diet tended to increase feed efficiency of the bulls (<0,001) ü  The FBW diet tended to reduce the feed efficiency of the bulls (<0,001) Ø  The bulls could not utilize the additional protein obtained through feeding •  There were no significant differences in DM or energy conversion rates when replacing timothy silage with alsike clover silage  •  CP conversion reduced linearly with increasing alsike clover inclusion 23/03/16	7	© Natural Resources Institute Finland 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 TSB TASB ASB FWB PWB TSB TASB ASB FWB PWB Angus Nordic Red g/d daily gain, g/d carcass gain, g/d Results 4 – Daily gain & Carcass gain ü  Angus bulls grew faster  ü  Trend for slightly better growth with WCL silage diets (P=0,16) ü  No treatment differences Angus; live weight vs. carcass gain:  Ø  1473,4 vs. 847,4 g/d  Nordic Red; live weight vs. carcass gain:  Ø  1151,6 vs. 598,6 g/d © Natural Resources Institute Finland 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 TSB TASB ASB FWB PWB TSB TASB ASB FWB PWB Angus Nordic Red EUROP carcass weight, kg dressing proportion, g/kg Conformation score, EUROP Fat score, EUROP Results 5 – carcass traits Angus vs. Nordic Red: Carcass weight: 376 vs. 302 kg  Dressing proportion: 531 vs. 501 g/kg Angus vs. Nordic Red: Conformation: 8,2 (R) vs. 5 (O)  Fat score: 3,1 vs. 2,1 Some observed trends: •  With AS diets the bulls had slightly poorer carcass weight and conformation class (P=0,14)  •  The carcass weight of FWB bulls was 9 % higher than the PWB bulls (P=0,02) Ø  The conformation score of FBW bulls was also higher (P=0,04) •  Carcass fat score tended to decrease when replacing TS by AS (P=0,07)  Ø  Might be associated with the enzyme polyphenol oxidase > plant selfprotection (Lee et al. 2007) Ø  Results in lower level of dietary lipolysis in the rumen > prerequisite for biohydregenation of unsaturated fatty acids (Lee et al. 2009) 23/03/16	8	© Natural Resources Institute Finland Results 6 – Beef quality Some observed trends: ü  The tenderness score decreased with AS-diet (P=0,15) ü  The WCLS-diets tended to increase the marbling score (P=0,08) Ø  Feeding treatments had only minor effects on beef quality  Ø  Ab had less variation in all the measured beef eating quality traits  Sensory analysis Ab vs. Nordic Red: ü  Tenderness: (5,78 vs. 5,08) Ø  Ab 12 % more tender  ü  Juiciness: (5,72 vs. 5,44) Ø  Ab 5 % more juicy  ü  Beef flavour: (5,84 vs. 5,64) Ø  Ab 3 % more intensive   ü  Shear force: (49,78 vs. 59,38)  Ø  Ab 16 % less force needed  ü  Marbling: (1,82 vs. 1,28)  Ø  Ab 30 % more marbling 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 TSB TASB ASB FWB PWB TSB TASB ASB FWB PWB Angus Nordic Red N/4 cm2 marbling score tenderness juiciness beef flavour shear force, N/4 cm2 Shear force: •  Tender beef < 50 N •  Average 50-70 N Sensory analysis:  Ø  Scale 1-7 Marbling: Ø  Scale 0-5 © Natural Resources Institute Finland Angus Nordic Red TSB TASB ASB FWB PWB TSB TASB ASB FWB PWB Saturated fatty acids, % 45,92 44,33 44,11 46,00 46,10 42,44 43,29 44,52 43,71 45,33 Monoun saturated fatty acids, % 46,27 47,20 47,72 46,90 46,40 48,99 48,99 47,41 48,36 46,02 Polyun saturated fatty acids, % 6,71 7,52 7,38 6,24 6,57 7,53 8,18 7,89 7,00 7,71 n6/n3 fatty acid ratio 3,01 2,90 2,91 3,20 3,10 4,33 4,31 4,12 4,29 4,49 Results 7 - Fatty acid profile •  The loin samples of the Angus bulls contained a higher proportion of saturated fatty acids (<0,001) •  Angus bulls tended to contain lower proportion of mono- and polyunsaturated fatty acids compared to the NR bulls •  The n-6/n-3 fatty acid ratio of the Nordic Red bulls was 30% higher than the corresponding value of the Angus bulls (<0,001) •  AS diet tended to produce beef with lower n-6/n-3 fatty acid ratio Ø  The effect was even more pronounced in Nordic Red bulls (P=0,23) 23/03/16	9	© Natural Resources Institute Finland Conclusions •  At fixed 500 days slaughter age breed differences were observed:  ü  in growth  ü carcass traits  ü beef quality •  The results indicate that Aberdeen Angus bulls produced beef with a lower n-6/n-3 fatty acid ratio compared to Nordic Red bulls (more healthier)   •  Replacing moderately digestible timothy silage by whole crop legume-cereal silages or alsike clover silage in the diet did not have any remarkable effects:  Ø on animal performance Ø carcass characteristics or  Ø beef quality of the growing bulls Ø  The possibility of protein over feeding should be taken into consideration in ration planning with high CP legume forages  

Performance and beef quality of growing bulls offered whole crop legume-cereal and alsike clover silages

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Jukuri