Nutrient intakes, growth performance and digestive organ weight of raising Japanese Black steers fed oat hay or whole crop corn silage as roughage

Abstract

The effects of feeding corn silage (CS) instead of oat hay on nutrient intakes, growth performance and digestive organ weight in the raising of Japanese Black steers were studied. In a feeding trial, 5.5‐month‐old Japanese Black steers (n = 15) received one of three dietary treatments with the same formula feed and different roughage (oat hay only, CS only and an equal mixture of oat hay and CS) until they reached 10.1 months old. At the feeding trial's conclusion, we observed that the three forms of roughage had no effect on the intakes of nutrients such as crude protein, non‐fibrous carbohydrate, fibers and total digestible nutrients except for ether extract, and no significant difference was observed in body weight, body measurements, average daily gain, or feed efficiency among the roughage groups. Steers fed the different roughage had identical weights of carcass, digestive organs and visceral fat immediately after the feeding trial. These findings suggest that corn silage can be used as a substitute for oat hay fed to Japanese Black steers during the raising period.