Title: Effects of oat hay and leguminous forage mixture feeding on enteric methane emission, energy utilization, and feed conversion efficiency in male crossbred Simmental beef cattle
Authors: Wuchen Du, Fujiang Hou, Atsushi Tsunekawa, Nobuyuki Kobayashi, Fei Peng, Toshiyoshi Ichinohe
Journal: Animal Science Journal
Impact Factor: IF₂₀₁₉=1.399(农林科学4区)
Abstract: Dietary manipulation has the potential to mitigate methane (CH₄) emission and to maintain or enhance livestock productivity. We conducted two experiments to investigate the effects of replacing oat hay by leguminous forages (alfalfa hay [AH], 0, 8, 16, and 24%, experiment 1; common vetch hay [CVH], 0, 10, 20, and 30%, experiment 2) on energy metabolism of crossbred Simmental cattle. In experiment 1, total volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentrations increased quadratically with increasing AH proportions (p= .006) with a forage-to-concentrate ratio of approximately 50:50, whereas the CH4 energy to gross energy intake ratio (CH4-E:GEI) was significantly lower with 16% AH compared with 24% AH diet (p < .05). In experiment 2, there were no differences in the total VFA concentrations among the four diet groups with a forage-to-concentrate ratio of around 60:40 (p> .05); however, CH4-E:GEI was significantly lower in the 30% CVH diet compared with the 10% CVH diet (p < .05). There was no significant difference in feed conversion efficiency among the four diet groups in each experiment. The results suggest that substituting 16 and 30% oat hay by AH and CVH provide optimal diets with forage-to-concentrate ratios of 50:50 and 60:40, respectively, which may reduce CH₄ emission without compromising the feed conversion efficiency of crossbred Simmental cattle.

链接：http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/asj.13472