Puzio Natalia, Purwin Cezary, Nogalski Zenon, Białobrzewski Ireneusz, Tomczyk Łukasz, Michalski Jacek P
Department of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science, University of Warmia and Mazury, Olsztyn 10-719, Poland.
Department of Cattle Breeding and Milk Evaluation, University of Warmia and Mazury, Olsztyn 10-719, Poland.
Asian-Australas J Anim Sci. 2019 Aug;32(8):1211-1218. doi: 10.5713/ajas.18.0698. Epub 2019 Jan 4.
The objective of this study was to determine the effects of age and gender (bull vs steer) on feeding behavior parameters in young beef cattle fed grass silage.
The study was conducted on 180 young beef cattle at 7 to 18 mo of age. The experimental materials comprised 90 bulls produced by commercial crossing of Polish Holstein-Friesian cows with Charolais, Limousin and Hereford bulls (30 animals of each breed) and 90 steers of the same genotypes. The animals had ad libitum access to grass silage; the concentrate was fed separately, in feed stations. They received 28 g dry matter of concentrate per kg of metabolic body weight per day. Bunk visit data and silage intake for all experimental animals were recorded individually using the Roughage Intake Control system (5 feed bunks per 15 animals).
Age and gender (bull vs steer) exerted significant effects on the feeding behavior of young beef cattle. The frequency of bunk visits and meal frequency decreased, whereas the feeding rate of silage, and the average duration and size of a single meal increased with age (p<0.01). Bunk attendance and meal frequency were higher (p<0.01) in steers than in bulls (49.1 vs 37.4 visits/d, and 8.63 vs 7.99 meals/d, respectively). Daily feeding time was longer in steers than in bulls (102.3 vs 100.3 min/d, respectively), but the feeding rate of silage was lower in steers, and their meals were smaller in size and shorter in duration (p<0.01). Daily silage dry matter intake was higher (p<0.01) in bulls than in steers (4.62 vs 4.47 kg/d, respectively).
The results of this study indicate that age and gender (bull vs steer) exerted significant effects on the feeding behavior of young beef cattle.
本研究的目的是确定年龄和性别（公牛与阉牛）对以青贮草料为食的幼年肉牛采食行为参数的影响。
本研究以180头7至18月龄的幼年肉牛为对象。实验材料包括90头通过波兰荷斯坦-弗里生奶牛与夏洛莱牛、利木赞牛和赫里福德牛进行商业杂交所产的公牛（每个品种30头）以及90头相同基因型的阉牛。动物可自由采食青贮草料；精饲料在采食站单独投喂。它们每天每千克代谢体重摄入28克干物质的精饲料。使用粗饲料采食控制系统（每15头动物配备5个采食槽）分别记录所有实验动物的采食槽访问数据和青贮料摄入量。
年龄和性别（公牛与阉牛）对幼年肉牛的采食行为有显著影响。随着年龄增长，采食槽访问频率和采食餐次减少，而青贮料采食速率、单次采食的平均持续时间和单次采食量增加（p<0.01）。阉牛的采食槽访问次数和采食餐次高于公牛（分别为49.1次/天和37.4次/天，以及8.63餐/天和7.99餐/天，p<0.01）。阉牛的每日采食时间比公牛长（分别为102.3分钟/天和100.3分钟/天），但阉牛的青贮料采食速率较低，其采食餐次的量较小且持续时间较短（p<0.01）。公牛的每日青贮料干物质摄入量高于阉牛（分别为4.62千克/天和4.47千克/天，p<0.01）。
本研究结果表明年龄和性别（公牛与阉牛）对幼年肉牛的采食行为有显著影响。
