Graduate Studies, UNL

 

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

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First Advisor

Galen Erickson

Second Advisor

Jim MacDonald

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Committee Members

Galen Erickson, Jay Parsons, Jessica Sperber, Jessie Morrill, Jim MacDonald, Phillip Miller

Department

Animal Science

Date of this Version

4-27-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Citation

A dissertation presented to the faculty of the Graduate College at the University of Nebraska in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy

Major: Animal Science

Under the supervision of Professors Galen Erickson and James MacDonald

Lincoln, Nebraska, May 2026

Comments

Copyright 2026, Anna Marie Kobza. Used by permission

Abstract

Rising costs and fluctuating availability of supplemental fats has led to increased interest in alternative fat sources or feed additives that might improve utilization of supplemental fat in feedlot diets. Two separate experiments were conducted to evaluate alternative strategies to overcome high fat prices. The first experiment was a metabolism study, conducted to evaluate digestion parameters of supplemental fat sources with or without LYSOFORTE Extend. The objectives of this experiment were to evaluate LYSOFORTE Extend in beef finishing diets containing a saturated fat source (tallow) and unsaturated fat source (corn oil). Duodenally and ruminally fistulated steers were fed diets containing either fat source, with or without LYSOFORTE Extend, compared to a negative control. 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, then 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).

A second pen study was conducted to evaluate alternative fat sources at 4% of diet dry matter; whole palm, palm olein, and palm stearin, compared to corn oil and a negative control. The objectives of this experiment were to evaluate feeding palm oil products on feedlot cattle performance, meat quality, and methane production. Feeding supplemental fat, regardless of source, increased final body weight, average daily gain, and hot carcass weight. Feeding supplemental fat had no effect on dry matter intake, but an improvement in average daily gain led to improved feed efficiency compared to cattle fed diets without supplemental fat. Feeding whole palm oil reduced enteric methane yield (g/kg of DMI) by 17.8% compared to feeding no oil. Subcutaneous fat from cattle fed corn oil was more yellow than that from No Oil or palm oils. Ground beef from cattle fed palm oils tended to have increased collagen and beef from Corn Oil, Stearin and Whole was higher in linoleic acid compared to No Oil. During simulated retail display, ground beef redness decreased for all groups, with Stearin and Whole reducing in redness more by day 5. Overall feeding supplemental fat of any source had positive impacts on cattle performance and did not affect ground beef retail stability.

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