Effect of physically effective neutral detergent fiber on nutrient intake and digestibility, ruminal and blood parameters, and ingestive behavior of confined beef cattle

• Published in: Tropical animal health and production Vol. 55; no. 3; p. 224
• Main Authors: Niwa, Marcus Vinicius Garcia, Ítavo, Luís Carlos Vinhas, Ítavo, Camila Celeste Brandão Ferreira, Dias, Alexandre Menezes, dos Santos Difante, Gelson, Longhini, Vanessa Zirondi, da Costa Gomes, Rodrigo, Vedovatto, Marcelo, Gurgel, Antonio Leandro Chaves, de Moraes, Gabriella Jorgetti, de Aquino Monteiro, Gabriela Oliveira
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01-06-2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Acetic acid; Animal sciences; Animals; Beef cattle; Behavior; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cattle; Corn; Corn silage; Costs; Cotton; Detergents; Diet; Dietary Fiber; Digestibility; Dry matter; Eating; Energy Intake; Fatty acids; Feeding Behavior; Feeds; Food intake; Forage; Latin square design; Life Sciences; Organic matter; Particle size; Physical properties; Quadratic equations; Regular Articles; Rumen; Rumination; Silage; Veterinary medicine; Veterinary Medicine/Veterinary Science; Volatile fatty acids; Winter; Zea mays; Zoology; Ruminal parameters; Neutral detergent fiber; Effective fiber; Cumulative gas production; Digestibility
• ISSN: 0049-4747; 1573-7438
• DOI: 10.1007/s11250-023-03633-0

We aimed to evaluate the effect of levels of physically effective neutral detergent fiber from forage (NDFfor) on confined cattle’s metabolism and ingestive behavior. Four crossbred steers (514.0 ± 4.54 kg BW) rumen-cannulated were used. The animals were randomly distributed in a 4×4 Latin square design, and the treatments were diets with 9.5%, 5.5%, 2.5%, and 0.0% NDF from whole plant corn silage. The trial was divided into 4 periods of 21 days. The dry matter, organic matter (OM), crude protein, neutral detergent fiber (NDF), physically effective NDF 8mm (peNDF8mm) and NDF1.18mm intakes, and the digestibility of OM and NDF showed a quadratic behavior. The rumen pH values showed a decreasing linear, and the time at pH below 5.8 increased linearly in the diets with lower NDFfor. The production of volatile fatty acids and the proportions of propionate and butyrate showed an increasing quadratic behavior. On the other hand, the proportion of acetate fitted a decreasing quadratic equation. With the lower participation of forage in the diets, the time spent on rumination activity decreased in a quadratic way, and the time spent in idleness increased in a quadratic way. The corn silage can be reduced to 135 g/kg DM in the diet to obtain a minimum of 5.5% of NDF from roughage.