Department of Animal Science

 

Date of this Version

2021

Citation

Published in 2021 Nebraska Beef Cattle Report, University of Nebraska Extension Publication MP110

Comments

Copyright © 2020 The Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska.

Abstract

A digestion study was conducted to evaluate Masters Choice corn silage hybrids on nutrient digestibility in growing beef steers. ! e three hybrids evaluated were a conventional hybrid (CON) commonly grown in Eastern Nebraska which served as the control, Masters Choice hybrid MCT6365 RIB (MC1) that has been selected to improve " ber and starch digestion and Masters Choice hybrid MCT6733 GT3000 (MC2) selected to improve " ber digestion. Treatment diets consisted of 80% of the diet dry matter (DM) of each corn silage hybrid. Steers fed MC1 corn silage had the greatest organic matter (OM), energy digestibility, and digestible energy (DE) content of the diet. Feeding MC2 resulted in the lowest OM, starch, and energy digestibility and dietary DE content. Steer energy digestion (OM, DE) was intermediate to MC1 and MC2 for CON silage. Results indicated that feeding MC1 corn silage at 80% of the diet DM improved digestion and energy availability to the steers, which allowed greater average daily gain and improved feed conversion observed in the corresponding growing trial, while the opposite was true for MC2.

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