Niu Kaifeng, Zhang Xinxin, Chen Chao, Yang Liguo
Key Lab of Agricultural Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Education, College of Animal Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.
Hubei Province's Engineering Research Center in Buffalo Breeding and Products, Wuhan 430070, China.
Animals (Basel). 2022 Apr 4;12(7):925. doi: 10.3390/ani12070925.
Providing clean, comfortable bedding is essential for the growth and welfare of bulls. This study was aimed to investigate the effects of bedding thickness on growth performance, behavior, and welfare of bulls as well as gases concentration in the barn. Thirty-six healthy Simmental bulls (7−9 months old) were randomly divided into three groups and raised on 0 cm (concrete floor, CF), 15 cm (shallow fermented bedding, SFB), and 30 cm (deep fermented bedding, DFB) fermented manure bedding. The results showed that the DFB group exhibited the optimal ADG (average daily gain), F/G (ratio of feed to gain), hoof health, body hygiene, and lying time, followed by the SFB group and the CF group (p < 0.05). As for the barn gas environment, the contents of ammonia and carbon dioxide were the lowest in the DFB group, followed by the SFB group, and they were the highest in the CF group at the same time points (p < 0.01). In summary, fermented manure bedding significantly improves the growth performances, behavior, and welfare of bulls as well as gases concentration, and the improvement effect achieved by deep fermented bedding is more obvious than by shallow fermented bedding.
为公牛提供干净、舒适的垫料对于其生长和健康至关重要。本研究旨在探讨垫料厚度对公生长性能、行为、健康以及牛舍内气体浓度的影响。将36头健康的西门塔尔公牛（7-9月龄）随机分为三组，分别饲养在0厘米（水泥地面，CF）、15厘米（浅层发酵垫料，SFB）和30厘米（深层发酵垫料，DFB）的发酵粪肥垫料上。结果表明，DFB组的平均日增重（ADG）、料重比（F/G）、蹄部健康、身体卫生和躺卧时间最佳，其次是SFB组和CF组（p<0.05）。在牛舍气体环境方面，DFB组的氨气和二氧化碳含量最低，其次是SFB组，在相同时间点CF组最高（p<0.01）。综上所述，发酵粪肥垫料显著改善了公牛的生长性能、行为和健康以及气体浓度，深层发酵垫料的改善效果比浅层发酵垫料更明显。
