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Comparison of concentrates or concentrates plus forages in a total mixed ration or discrete ingredient format: effects on beef production parameters and on beef composition, colour, texture and fatty acid profile
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2004
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D.W.I. Cooke, F.J. Monahan, P.O. Brophy and M.P. Boland. Comparison of concentrates or concentrates plus forages in a total mixed ration or discrete ingredient format: effects on beef production parameters and on beef composition, colour, texture and fatty acid profile. Irish Journal of Agricultural and Food Research 43: 201–216, 2004
Abstract
Diets consisting primarily of concentrates or of concentrates plus silage in a total
mixed ration (TMR) or discrete ingredient format were compared for effects on beef
production traits and on beef quality. Sixty continental cross heifers (377 kg, s.d. 31)
were allocated to one of the following feeding regimens for 96 days pre-slaughter: (i) a control ration of grass silage, maize silage, a cereal-based concentrate and straw at proportionately, 0.23, 0.15, 0.59 and 0.03 of dietary dry matter, respectively; (ii) a total mixed ration (TMR) with the same dietary ingredients as the control ration; (iii) a high concentrate ration (HC) of a cereal-based diet and straw at proportionately 0.95 and 0.05 of dietary dry matter, respectively. Subcutaneous fat samples were taken from all animals at slaughter and the strip-loin was excised from 10 animals per group for
colour, texture and fatty acid determination. The HC and TMR groups had higher (P < 0.05) daily live-weight gain, slaughter weight and carcass weight than the control group. Muscle protein was highest (P < 0.01) in the TMR group while muscle marbling was highest (P < 0.01) in the HC group. Subcutaneous fat from the HC group
was less (P < 0.001) yellow than fat from the other groups. Fatty acid analysis of intramuscular fat showed that the HC group had higher C18:1 and lower C18:3 proportions
than the control group (P < 0.05). The n-6:n-3 fatty acid ratio of intramuscular fat
from the HC group was higher (P < 0.05) than that of the other groups. The results
suggest that, at similar feed intakes, TMR feeding offers advantages for beef production over feeding ingredients separately, and yields muscle with a higher protein concentration, while high concentrate feeding yields whiter subcutaneous fat and intramuscular fat with a less nutritionally favourable n-6:n-3 fatty acid ratio.