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Comparison of sugar-beet pulp and barley with and without soya bean meal as supplements to silage for growing steers
Keane, Michael G.
Keane, Michael G.
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2005
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M.G. Keane. (2005) Comparison of sugar-beet pulp and barley with and without soya bean meal as supplements to silage for growing steers. Irish Journal of Agricultural and Food Research 44: 15–26
Abstract
The optimum live-weight gain for growing steers in winter depends on the cost of feed
and subsequent compensatory growth. The objectives of this experiment were: (1) to
determine the response in growing steers to increasing levels of molassed sugar-beet
pulp (MSBP) as a supplement to grass silage, (2) to compare MSBP and barley, and
(3) to ascertain if there was a response to the inclusion of soya bean meal as a protein
source with both MSBP and barley. Weanling steers (n = 154) were assigned to the following
treatments: (1) silage only, (2) silage plus a low level of MSBP, (3) silage plus a
low level of MSBP plus soya bean meal, (4) silage plus a high level of MSBP, (5) silage
plus a high level of MSBP plus soya bean meal, (6) silage plus a high level of barley,
and (7) silage plus a high level of barley plus soya bean meal. Low MSBP, high MSBP
and barley levels were 1.5 kg, 3.0 kg and 3.0 kg per head daily, respectively. Where soya
bean meal was included it replaced 0.2 kg/day (low) or 0.4 kg/day (high) of MSBP or
barley. The duration of the treatments was 125 days (winter) after which the animals
grazed together for 148 days. Silage intake decreased linearly (P < 0.001) with increasing
MSBP level. Addition of soya bean meal had no effect on silage intake with low
MSBP or barley but increased (P < 0.05) intake with high MSBP. Live-weight gain
increased both linearly (P < 0.001) and quadratically (P < 0.01) with increasing
MSBP. There was a significant live-weight response to the addition of soya bean meal
which was greater at the high than at the low MSBP level and was greater for MSBP
than barley. Across all treatments, growth rate at pasture was inversely related to
growth rate in winter. Final live weights for the treatments as listed were 376, 395, 411,
400, 430, 427 and 428 (s.e. 14.2) kg. It is concluded that there was a curvilinear live-weight gain response to increasing MSBP level. There was no end-of-grazingseason
live-weight response to the inclusion of soya bean meal with barley but there
was with MSBP, particularly at the high level. MSBP with soya bean meal was equivalent
to a similar quantity of barley.