The utilization by beef cattle of sugarcane supplemented with animal protein, plant protein or non-protein nitrogen and sulphur

Abstract

When sugarcane was chopped, supplemented with meat meal or the tropical legume Leucaena leucocephala and fed to Droughtmaster steers, they gained liveweight at the rate of 0.61 kg day-1. When non-protein nitrogen and sulphur were used as the supplement, animals lost liveweight initially but later gained liveweight at 0.52 kg day-1. The improvement was brought about by evenly distributing the supplement in the ration and by ensiling the treated feed for at least 24 hours. Cattle consumed approximately 71 g OM/kg LW0.75/day and digested 57.9 per cent of the diet when the protein source was L. leucocephala, 64.4 per cent when it was meat meal and 66.2 per cent when it was urea and sodium sulphate. The differences in digestibility were associated with differences in retention time of the diets in the rumen.