PSII-9 The effects of Chinese cabbage by-product and total mixed rations on in vitro rumen fermentation, growth performance and blood profile of Holstein steers.

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of Chinese cabbage by-product mixed with total mixed ration (TMR) on in vitro rumen fermentation, growth performance and blood profile of Holstein steers. For in vitro fermentation, the treatments were control (TMR), T1 (TMR+Chinese cabbage by-product), T2 (TMR+Chinese cabbage by-product+CaO) and T3 (TMR+Chinese cabbage by-product+CaO+AHP). The rumen fluid was collected from three Holstein Friesian cows and mixed with buffer solution, after which buffered rumen fluid was transferred into serum bottles containing 1 g dry matter of TMR added with or without the treatments. All treatments were conducted in triplicates and the analyses were carried out using DMRT in SAS. The pH value was significantly higher (P<0.001) in feed added with cabbage and AHP than other treatments and control. However, comparable total gas production was observed in control and TMR with cabbage only, and both were significantly higher than T2 and T3. Consequently, comparable concentrations were observed among treatments in individual and total VFA. Since in in vitro trial, comparable results were obtained between control and T1, both were used in in vivo trial. Thirty-four Holstein steers (273 ± 45 kg) were subjected to 150 days feeding trial. The animals were randomly selected and equally distributed into two groups, control (TMR), T1 (TMR+Chinese cabbage by-product). The analyses were carried out using T-test in SAS. Results showed that control and T1 had the same effect in weight gain and feed efficiency after feeding trial. In blood profile analysis, creatinine was higher (P=0.026) but it is within the normal range in T1 than control while BUN was higher (P=0.042) in control than T1. Overall, the results of this study suggest that TMR with Chinese cabbage by-product can be used as an alternative feed resource for beef cattle.