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Acta Prataculturae Sinica ›› 2014, Vol. 23 ›› Issue (6): 126-135.DOI: 10.11686/cyxb20140616

• Orginal Article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Influence of different nutrition levels on the digestion metabolism and beef quality of Holstein culling cows

LI Qiu-feng1,LI Chun-fang1,2,CAO Yu-feng1,LI Jian-guo1,YIN Yuan-hu3,LI Wei3   

  1. 1.College of Animal Science and Technology, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding 071001, China;
    2.The Hebei Provincial Station for Livestock Varieties Producing and Spreading, Shijiazhuang 050061, China;
    3.Heilongjiang Institute of Animal Science, Qiqihaer 161005, China
  • Received:2013-09-22 Online:2014-12-20 Published:2014-12-20

Abstract: The study aimed to investigate the influence of different nutrition levels on the digestion metabolism and beef quality of Holstein culled cows. Thirty-two healthy cows were randomly divided into four groups (n=8) in a single-factor design. Four experimental diets were used at different levels of energy and protein, namely group Ⅰ (low nutrition), group Ⅱ (medium nutrition), group Ⅲ (high nutrition) and group Ⅳ (higher nutrition). The experiment included two stages. With the increase in nutrition levels, the apparent digestibility of crude protein and crude fat were significantly different. The apparent digestibility of crude protein and fat in group Ⅲ were the highest (72.47% and 80.64%). Compared with group Ⅰ, the back fat thickness of group Ⅳ increased by 73.33%. The meat cooking rate, fat content and fatty acid content were significantly affected by nutrition levels. The cooking rate of group Ⅲ was 49.73% higher than those of groups Ⅰ, Ⅱ and Ⅳ by 6.03%, 7.87% and 4.30% respectively. The fat content of beef increased by 70.10% compared to groups Ⅳ and Ⅰ. The polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) content of group Ⅳ was the lowest (3.67%) and it was the highest in group Ⅱ (5.93%). Compared with groups Ⅰ and Ⅳ, PUFA content of group Ⅲ was clearly higher. Therefore, the suggested values of nutritional level for finishing Holstein culling cows in the 410-470 kg live weight range are 11.03-11.53 kg/d dry matter intake, 147.86-150.05 MJ/d digested energy intake and 1.57-1.66 kg/d crude protein intake.The values for cows in the 470-530 kg live weight range are 10.76-11.23 kg/d DMI, 149.18-151.21 MJ/d DE and 1.53-1.62 kg/d CPI respectively.

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