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ARS Home » Plains Area » Bushland, Texas » Conservation and Production Research Laboratory » Livestock Nutrient Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #332436
Title: Effects of feeding condensed distillers solubles and crude glycerin alone or in combination on finishing beef cattle performance, carcass characteristics, and in vitro fermentation.

Author
item WEISS, CALEB - Texas Agrilife Research
item GENTRY, WES - Texas Agrilife Research
item MCCOLLUM, F - Texas Agrilife Research
item JENNINGS, JENNY - Texas Agrilife Research
item COLE, NOEL - Retired ARS Employee

Submitted to: Journal of Animal Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/22/2016
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: To remain competitive, beef feed yards use by products from other agricultural industries as feed ingredients. Condensed distillers solubles, a liquid coproduct of the bio-ethanol industry and glycerin, a liquid byproduct of the bio-diesel industry are commonly used as feed ingredients for finishing beef cattle. However, no studies have examined animal performance when both are fed together. Therefore, scientists from Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension and ARS (Bushland TX) conducted two experiments to evaluate the effects of feeding condensed distillers solubles and glycerin alone, or in combination, on performance of finishing beef cattle and on in vitro fermentation. Growth performance, and gain efficiency, and carcass characteristics of the cattle were not affected by dietary treatments. Dietary treatments did not affect digestibility of dry matter however there were differences in the digestibility of neutral detergent fiber. Condensed distillers solubles and glycerin frequently have a lower cost than other ingredients, and thus may be viable feed ingredients for finishing beef cattle.

Technical Abstract: Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of feeding condensed distillers solubles (DS) and crude glycerin alone or in combination on performance of finishing beef cattle and in vitro fermentation. In both experiments, dietary treatments consisted of a steam flaked corn (SFC) based diet with 0% DS or crude glycerin (CON), 10% condensed distillers solubles (CDS), 10% crude glycerin (GLY), or a combination of 5% DS and 5% crude glycerin (C+G) included on a DM basis. All treatment diets contained 15% (DM basis) wet distillers grains plus solubles (WDGS). In Exp. 1, crossbred steers (n=250; initial BW = 322 +/- 15 kg) were used in a randomized complete block finishing trial. Growth performance and gain efficiency were not different (P greater than 0.10) across all treatments. Treatment had no effect (P greater than 0.10) on carcass weight, marbling score, yield grade, LM area, or % grading USDA choice. In Exp. 2, ruminal fluid was collected from 2 ruminally cannulated steers to evaluate in vitro fermentation characteristics. No differences (P = 0.43) were observed for dry matter disappearance (DMD) across all treatments. The GLY and C+G treatments had decreased (P = 0.02 and P = 0.05, respectively) neutral detergent fiber disappearance (NDFD), while the CDS treatment tended to have decreased (P = 0.06) NDFD compared to CON. Concentrations of NH3 decreased (P less than 0.04) with GLY and C+G treatments compared to CON. Total gas production decreased (P less than 0.01) for the C+G treatment compared to other treatments. The CDS treatment had increased (P less than 0.02) total VFA compared to the CON or C+G treatments. Treatments had no effect (P greater than 0.17) on concentrations of acetate, propionate, and butyrate, but valerate concentrations were the greatest (P less than 0.04) for the CON treatment. Concentrations of isobutyrate increased (P less than 0.05) for the CON and C+G treatments compared to the GLY treatment and tended to increase (P less than 0.10) compared to the CDS treatment. Including DS or glycerin in the substrates decreased (P less than 0.08) isovalerate compared to CON. Feeding additional byproducts such as DS and crude glycerin alone or in combination in a finishing diet did not alter live animal performance or carcass characteristics; however, feeding a combination of the two byproducts may alter in vitro fermentation.