Fn. Owens et al., THE EFFECT OF GRAIN SOURCE AND GRAIN PROCESSING ON PERFORMANCE OF FEEDLOT CATTLE - A REVIEW, Journal of animal science, 75(3), 1997, pp. 868-879
Effects of grain species and grain processing method on DMI, rate and
efficiency of gain, and feeding value for cattle fed high concentrate
diets were appraised by statistically compiling results from 605 compa
risons from feeding trials published in North American journals and ex
periment station bulletins since 1974. Metabolizable energy (ME) value
s for each grain and processing method were calculated by quadratic pr
ocedures from DMI and animal performance. Averaged across processing m
ethods, ME values for corn, mile, and wheat grain (3.40, 3.22, and 3.4
6 Mcal/kg DM) fell within 9% of ME estimates from NRC (1996) for beef
cattle. In contrast, ME values for barley and oats grain (3.55 and 3.4
6 Mcal/kg DM) were 24% and 17% greater than NRC (1996) estimates. Comp
ared with the dry rolled forms, high moisture corn and mile resulted i
n lower ADG and DMI. Compared with dry rolling, either steam rolling o
r flaking of corn, mile, and wheat decreased DMI without decreasing AD
G and improved feed efficiency by 10, 15, and 10%, respectively. Compa
red with dry rolled grain, steam flaking increased (P < .05) body weig
ht-adjusted ME of corn and mile grain by 15 and 21%, respectively; bod
y weight-adjusted ME for whole corn was 9% greater(P .05) than for rol
led corn grain. Steam flaking was surprisingly effective (13%) at incr
easing (P < .05) the body weight-adjusted ME of wheat, but steam flaki
ng failed to increase the ME of barley and oats. Higher moisture conte
nt of high-moisture corn decreased dry matter intake without depressin
g ADG and improved efficiency and increased ME of the grain. Compared
with steam flakes of moderate thinness, processing mile or barley to a
very thin flake tended to reduce ADG and failed to improve feed effic
iency. The ideal roughage source and roughage moisture content for max
imum ME and ADG varied with grain processing method. Feeding corn sila
ge rather than alfalfa and wet rather than dry roughage depressed (P <
.01) ADG of cattle and reduced (P < .01) body weight-adjusted ME of c
attle fed high-moisture corn grain but tended to increase both with st
eam-flaked corn or wheat.