Feed requirements for maintenance and growth of one-year-old Angus steers selected for either fast or slow yearling growth rate

Abstract

The efficiency of feed utilisation for maintenance and growth at 1 year of age was examined in 11 steers from each of 2 lines of Angus cattle selected for either fast (high line) or slow (low line) average daily gain to 1 year of age. The steers were established on a range of dietary energy intakes for 2 trials, each of 3 weeks duration. Fasted liveweights (LW) were measured at the start and end of each trial. Body fat was estimated at the end of the first trial. At the start of the experiment the high line steers were heavier (P<0.001) than the low line steers (278 v. 203 kg). The high line steers required more (P<0.001) feed per day [48.0 v. 39.3 MJ metabolisable energy (ME)] to maintain their greater LW but required less (P = 0.05) feed to sustain each kilogram of this LW (0.174 v. 0.192 MJ ME/kg LW) and, so, were more efficient. There was no difference in the efficiency of feed use for gain in LW (0.042 v. 0.040 kg LW/MJ ME.day). However, after adjusting feed intakes for the different mature sizes (A) of the 2 lines, there was no difference in the biological efficiency of feed use for either maintenance (0.369 v. 0.359 MJ ME/kg A0.73) or gain (5.45 v. 4.37 kg LW/MJ ME.kg A0.73). These results suggest that divergent selection for growth rate in this study has produced different-sized animals whose ability to convert feed to gain in LW has not been altered.