Animal Science, Department of
Nebraska Beef Cattle Reports
Date of this Version
2026
Citation
2026 Nebraska Beef Cattle Report, pages 47-51, MP-121, University of Nebraska Extension, 2026
Abstract
Summary with Implications
Supplemental fat fed in finishing diets in recent years has generally increased in price. This digestibility study evaluated LYSOFORTE Extend, a lysophospholipid based nutritional emulsifier, in beef finishing diets containing tallow or corn oil. Five ruminally and duodenally cannulated steers were used in a 5 × 5 Latin Square design. Treatments followed a 2 × 2 +1 factorial: 1) No Oil (negative control), 2) Corn Oil (3.5%), 3) Tallow (3.5%), 4) Corn Oil + LFE (8 g/d), and 5) Tallow + LFE (8 g/d). Cattle fed the negative control diet had greater dry matter intake than cattle consuming diets with supplemental fat but no LYSOFORTE Extend. But, when LYSOFORTE Extend was added to diets with corn oil and tallow, intake did not differ (P = 0.50) from the negative control. There was no difference in total tract dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM) or apparent energy digestibility across any of the 5 dietary treatments (P ≥ 0.23). The impact of LYSOFORTE Extend on rumen fermentation parameters, such as average pH and volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentration were limited. There was no difference in average pH (P ≥ 0.21) across treatments, but a main effect of LYSOFORTE Extend on total VFA concentration (P ≤ 0.05), where diets that included LYSOFORTE Extend had greater total VFA concentration than those without LYSOFORTE Extend. While supplemental fat reduced intake, when fed with LYSOFORTE Extend it appeared to mitigate this effect, which may warrant further research into this response.
Comments
Copyright 2026, Board of Regents, University of Nebraska. Used by permission