Effect of level of feeding a mixed ration of whole wheat grain and hay on the digestion of wheat grain by steers

Abstract

The apparent digestibility of whole grain, proportion of grain voided in the faeces, retention time of whole grain and the rate of ingestion of the ration was measured for a mixed ration of 2/3 $whole wheat and 1/3 hay fed at 1 1/2 per cent and 3 per cent of mean liveweight to eight yearling steers in a cross-over design. Halving the level of intake of 3 per cent of the liveweight was accompanied by an increase in digestibility of grain dry matter from 53.8 to 68.3 per cent, a decrease in the proportion of grain voided from 31.6 to 19.6 per cent, a lengthening of the mean retention time from 31.9 to 52.3 hours and a reduction in the ingestion rate of the ration from 0.24 to 0.21 kg minute-1.