8
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
1. Nutrient Intake and Feedlot Steer Performance
The RF and control treatments gave similar average nutrient intake during the experimental period Table 3. Daily intake of each steer was approximately 9.5 kg
day
-1
at dry matter DM basis. The proportion of concentrate and forage intake was 91.5 and 8.5, respectively. Similar pattern to that of DM intake, crude fiber intake,
crude protein intake, ether extract intake, nitrogen free extract intake, total digestable nutrients TDN intake and gross energy intake GEI also gave similar results on both
treatments.
Table 3. Total nutrient intake of feedlot steer administered with RF and without
rumen mechanical stimulator Control in short-time rearing.
Item Treatment
SEM P-value
Control RF
Average Intake of Nutrient Dry Matter
kg h
-1
d
-1
9.589 + 0.007 9.590 + 0.025
0.002 0.876
Crude Fiber kg h
-1
d
-1
1.760 + 0.002 1.759 + 0.005
0.000 0.852
Crude Protein kg h
-1
d
-1
1.292 + 0.001 1.293 + 0.003
0.000 0.572
Ether Extract kg h
-1
d
-1
0.397 + 0.001 0.397 + 0.001
0.000 0.423
NFE kg h
-1
d
-1
4.904 + 0.004 4.905 + 0.014
0.001 0.902
TDN
£
kg h
-1
d
-1
6.208 + 0.005 6.210 + 0.016
0.001 0.729
GEI MJ h
-1
d
-1
16.472 + 0.013 16.475 + 0.045
0.003 0.811
Concentrate : Roughages 91.5 : 8.5
91.5 : 8.5 Notes: NFE=Nitrogen free extract ;TDN=Total Digestible Nutrient.
£
= National Research Council, 1984; GEI=Gross Energy Intake; Different upper case letters within rows indicate differences
among treatments P≤0.05.
Nutrient intake is influenced by the chemical composition within the concentrate and forage. This result indicated that RF treatment was unable to increase
feed intake of steers when reared in short-time period. Previous studies also reported that RMS administration resulted in a similar nutrient intake compared to control such
as in Thai native steers Bos indicus Angthong et al., 2011, lactating Holstein Matsumoto et al., 2011 and Holstein steers Horiguchi Takahashi, 2004.
Table 4. Performance, gain:feed ratio and income over feed cost IOFC of feedlot
steers with RF and without rumen mechanical stimulator administration control in short-time rearing.
Item Treatment
SEM P-value
Control RF
Performance Total Gain
kg h
-1
d
-1
184.30 + 26.4
171.00 + 27.7
2.721 0.286
ADG kg h
-1
d
-1
1.98 + 0.28
1.83 + 0.29
0.029 0.287
Gain : Feed ratio 0.21 +
0.03 0.19 +
0.03 0.003
0.288 IOFC
Rp h
-1
4,248,709 + 950,414
b
2,768,625 + 998,981
a
121,535 0.003
Notes: ADG=Average Daily Gain; IOFC = Income Over Feed Cost; Different upper case letters within rows indicate differences among treatments P≤0.05.