In the beef cattle industry, sustainable beef production is a primary focus, as it has direct effects on environmental stewardship, farm profitability, and public concerns. Research has been and is continually being conducted to evaluate alternative forages such as Brown Midrib Corn Silage (BMRCS) as a major component in growing beef cattle diets, to improve animal performance, ruminal fermentation, and economic returns. The objective of this study was to determine growth performance, ruminal fermentation characteristics, and economic returns of growing beef steers when fed a brown midrib corn silage-based TMR (BMRT) compared with a conventional corn silage-based TMR (CCST). This growing beef study was performed in a completely randomized design with 24 Angus crossbred steers (initial body weight (BW) = 258 ± 23.2 kg) to test 2 treatments: CCST vs. BMRT. All animals were placed in individual pens, and 12 animals allocated to each treatment (n = 12). All steers were adapted to the CCST for a 2-wk period prior to start of the trial. The CCST contained 48.1% CCS whereas the BMRT consisted of 49.0% BMRCS on a dry matter (DM) basis. All steers were fed once per day, and feed bunks assesed each afternoon and prior to morning feeding, which was used to determine the amount of feed to deliver to each pen the following day. The experiment lasted 84 d. For all steers, BW and ruminal fermentation characteristics were measured on wk 4, 8, and 12. Intake of DM averaged 9.54 kg/d across the treatments and was similar between the treatments. Steers fed the BMRT tended to increase average daily gain (ADG) compared to those fed the CCST (1.54 vs. 1.42 kg/d; P = 0.09). In addition, feeding the BMRT tended to increase G:F compared with the CCST (0.165 vs. 0.146; P = 0.07). Feeding the BMRT decreased ruminal pH (6.42 vs. 6.67; P < 0.01), whereas it increased total VFA concentration (P = 0.01) compared with the CCST. Feeding the BMRT decreased molar proportion of acetate (P < 0.01), but increased propionate proportion (P = 0.01), resulting in decreased acetate-to-propionate ratio compared with the CCST (P < 0.02). Steers fed BMRT increased feed margin (P = 0.05) and net return (P = 0.02) compared to those fed CCST throughout the trial. Overall data in this study indicate that feeding the BMRT to growing beef steers enhanced ruminal fermentation and beneficially shifted VFA profiles, which contributed to improved growth performance and economic performance of steers fed the BMRT.

Resumo: Objetivou-se avaliar a estabilidade aeróbia de silagens de planta e de grãos úmidos de milho com a utilização de inoculante microbiano, bem como o uso de filme plástico de baixa permeabilidade ao oxigênio associado ao filme convencional. Para tanto foram conduzidos três experimentos. No primeiro e segundo experimentos os objetivos foram avaliar os efeitos de doses de Lactobacillus buchneri (5x104, 1x105, 5x105 e 1x106 UFC/ g) sobre as características fermentativas, a dinâmica microbiológica, a estabilidade aeróbia e o valor nutricional de silagens de planta e de grãos úmidos de milho. No terceiro experimento, objetivou-se avaliar o efeito do filme plástico de baixa permeabilidade ao oxigênio associado ao filme convencional sobre a perdas na armazenagem e a estabilidade aeróbia de silagem de planta de milho, em silo tipo superfície. O L. buchneri é eficiente no controle de leveduras e fungos filamentosos, assim como melhora a estabilidade aeróbia da silagem de planta e de grãos úmidos de milho e não afeta o valor nutricional. O filme de baixa permeabilidade ao oxigênio associado ao filme convencional é eficiente na manutenção das características fermentativas, no controle da população de leveduras e na redução de perdas, principalmente quando a fatia de retirada é menor / Abstract: Aimed to evaluate the aerobic stability of plant and of high moisture corn silage with the use of microbial inoculant and oxygen barrier film associated with conventional film. Therefore, three experiments were conducted. In the first and second experiments the objectives were to evaluate the effects of Lactobacillus buchneri doses (5x104, 1x105, 5x105 and 1x106 CFU/g) on the fermentation characteristics, microbial dynamics, aerobic stability and nutritional value of plant and of grain moisture corn silage. The third experiment aimed to evaluate the effect of oxygen barrier film associated with conventional film under the storage losses and aerobic stability of plant corn silage in a horizontal silo. The L. buchneri is effective in control of yeasts and molds, and improve the aerobic stability of plant and of high moisture corn silage and do not affect nutritional value. The oxygen barrier film is effective in maintaining the fermentation characteristics, in yeasts population control and loss reduction, mainly when the feedout rate is lower / Orientador: Ricardo Andrade Reis / Coorientador: Thiago Fernandes Bernardes / Coorientador: Ana Claudia Ruggieri / Banca: Clóves Cabreira Jobim / Banca: Antonio Fernando Bergamaschine / Mestre

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:26:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010-02-22Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:53:53Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 basso_fc_me_jabo.pdf: 531187 bytes, checksum: bfe8823d0048e987182e2c032af34a89 (MD5) / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / Objetivou-se avaliar a estabilidade aeróbia de silagens de planta e de grãos úmidos de milho com a utilização de inoculante microbiano, bem como o uso de filme plástico de baixa permeabilidade ao oxigênio associado ao filme convencional. Para tanto foram conduzidos três experimentos. No primeiro e segundo experimentos os objetivos foram avaliar os efeitos de doses de Lactobacillus buchneri (5x104, 1x105, 5x105 e 1x106 UFC/ g) sobre as características fermentativas, a dinâmica microbiológica, a estabilidade aeróbia e o valor nutricional de silagens de planta e de grãos úmidos de milho. No terceiro experimento, objetivou-se avaliar o efeito do filme plástico de baixa permeabilidade ao oxigênio associado ao filme convencional sobre a perdas na armazenagem e a estabilidade aeróbia de silagem de planta de milho, em silo tipo superfície. O L. buchneri é eficiente no controle de leveduras e fungos filamentosos, assim como melhora a estabilidade aeróbia da silagem de planta e de grãos úmidos de milho e não afeta o valor nutricional. O filme de baixa permeabilidade ao oxigênio associado ao filme convencional é eficiente na manutenção das características fermentativas, no controle da população de leveduras e na redução de perdas, principalmente quando a fatia de retirada é menor / Aimed to evaluate the aerobic stability of plant and of high moisture corn silage with the use of microbial inoculant and oxygen barrier film associated with conventional film. Therefore, three experiments were conducted. In the first and second experiments the objectives were to evaluate the effects of Lactobacillus buchneri doses (5x104, 1x105, 5x105 and 1x106 CFU/g) on the fermentation characteristics, microbial dynamics, aerobic stability and nutritional value of plant and of grain moisture corn silage. The third experiment aimed to evaluate the effect of oxygen barrier film associated with conventional film under the storage losses and aerobic stability of plant corn silage in a horizontal silo. The L. buchneri is effective in control of yeasts and molds, and improve the aerobic stability of plant and of high moisture corn silage and do not affect nutritional value. The oxygen barrier film is effective in maintaining the fermentation characteristics, in yeasts population control and loss reduction, mainly when the feedout rate is lower