Effects of feeding sorghum silage (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) with different concentrate levels on intake, nutrient digestibility, and production of beef cattle

Twenty-four castrated Holstein x Zebu bovines averaging 435 kg of initial body weight and 36 months of age were assigned to a randomized complete block design (six replications/treatment) to investigate the effects of sorghum silage with different concentrate levels on intake, apparent total tract digestibility, weight gain, feed conversion, and carcass yield. Animals received the following forage:concentrate ratios: 80:20, 65:35, 50:50, and 35:65 on dry matter basis. Different forage: con cent rate ratios did not change significantly intakes of DM, OM, CP, and TDN all expressed in kg/day whereas intakes of DM (% BW and g/kg BW0.75) and EE and NFC both expressed in kg/day increased linearly with the concentrate level. Conversely, intake of NDF, independently of the expression form, decreased linearly when the concentrate level increased from 20 to 65% of the diet. Apparent total tract diggestibilities of DM, OM, and NFC were similar across diets averaging 63.8. 65.1, and 82.2%, respectively. However, apparent total tract digestibilities of CP, EE. and NDF decreased linearly with the increment of concentrate in the diets. Both average daily gain and feed conversion were not affected by the diets averaging 1.40 g/day and 8.08 kg of DM/kg of body weight gain (BWG), respectively. The observed average final weight of the animals was 523 kg among diets in the present trial. Carcass yield of animals increased linearly when the forage:concentrate ratio went from 80:20 to 35:65. The diet with the forage:concentrate ratio of 80:20 resulted in lower meat production costs than diets with greater proportions of concentrate.