Effect of increasing amount of Amaferm on animal performance in receiving feedlot cattle

K. NICKLES; A E RELLING

Congreso; 2017 Midwest ASAS ADSA meeting; 2017

>The receiving period for feedlot cattle is crucial for the latter performance of the animal. This phase ischaracterized by high stress in the animals due to the change of environment and diet. This has beenassociated with a decrease in feed intake and performance. Amaferm has been shown to increase therate and extent of digestion, as well as reducing the time that animals require to resume consumptionduring diet transition. Therefore, the objective of the present experiment was to determine the effect of0, 1.5 or 3.0 grams per day of Amaferm in feedlot receiving diets. The experiment was replicated in twoyears, and in both years one hundred sixty eight Angus crossbreed Steers (240 ±0.66 kg) were blockedby body weight and allocated in 24 pens with seven animals per pen. The 24 pens were equallydistributed and assigned to one of the following 3 treatments, control (0A) that receive a diet with 0 gper day of Amaferm, or 1.5 g per day of Amaferm (1.5A) or 3 g per day of Amaferm (3A). The dietcontaining 60% corn silage, 15% DDGS, 15% whole shelled corn, and 10% protein/vitamin/mineralsupplement. Animals were weight at D 1 and d7, DMI was measure daily. Data were analyzed as acomplete block design with a mixed model (SAS 9.4). The model include treatment as a fix variable, andpen, year and BW block as random variables. Mean separation for animal performance on d7 wasevaluated using linear and quadratic polynomial contrast. Increasing dose of Amaferm inclusion improvelinearly (P=0.04) BW, ADG and G:F without changing DMI (P>0.1) on the first week of feeding Theimprovement in performance may be due to the ability of Amaferm to reduce rumen lactic acidconcentration by stimulating the development of Megasphaera elsdenii, decreasing the risk of adecrease in pH. We conclude that inclusion of increasing dose of Amaferm in the receiving diet improvesperformance of calves during the feedlot receiving period