Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-6kn8j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-28T02:24:40.592Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Impact of adding nitrate or increasing the lipid content of two contrasting diets on blood methaemoglobin and performance of two breeds of finishing beef steers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2015

C-A. Duthie ,
J. A. Rooke ,
S. Troy ,
J. J. Hyslop ,
D. W. Ross ,
A. Waterhouse  and
R. Roehe
C-A. Duthie*
Affiliation:
Beef and Sheep Research Centre, Future Farming Systems Group, SRUC, Kings Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3JG, UK
J. A. Rooke
Affiliation:
Beef and Sheep Research Centre, Future Farming Systems Group, SRUC, Kings Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3JG, UK
S. Troy
Affiliation:
Beef and Sheep Research Centre, Future Farming Systems Group, SRUC, Kings Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3JG, UK
J. J. Hyslop
Affiliation:
Beef and Sheep Select, SAC Consulting Ltd., SRUC, Kings Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3JG, UK
D. W. Ross
Affiliation:
Beef and Sheep Research Centre, Future Farming Systems Group, SRUC, Kings Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3JG, UK
A. Waterhouse
Affiliation:
Beef and Sheep Research Centre, Future Farming Systems Group, SRUC, Kings Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3JG, UK
R. Roehe
Affiliation:
Animal Breeding and Development, Animal and Veterinary Sciences Group, SRUC, Kings Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3JG, UK
*
† E-mail: Carol-Anne.Duthie@sruc.ac.uk
Get access

Abstract

Adding nitrate to the diet or increasing the concentration of dietary lipid are effective strategies for reducing enteric methane emissions. This study investigated their effect on health and performance of finishing beef cattle. The experiment was a two×two×three factorial design comprising two breeds (CHX, crossbred Charolais; LU, Luing); two basal diets consisting of (g/kg dry matter (DM), forage to concentrate ratios) 520 : 480 (Mixed) or 84 : 916 (Concentrate); and three treatments: (i) control with rapeseed meal as the main protein source replaced with either (ii) calcium nitrate (18 g nitrate/kg diet DM) or (iii) rapeseed cake (RSC, increasing acid hydrolysed ether extract from 25 to 48 g/kg diet DM). Steers (n=84) were allocated to each of the six basal diet×treatments in equal numbers of each breed with feed offered ad libitum. Blood methaemoglobin (MetHb) concentrations (marker for nitrate poisoning) were monitored throughout the study in steers receiving nitrate. After dietary adaptation over 28 days, individual animal intake, performance and feed efficiency were recorded for a test period of 56 days. Blood MetHb concentrations were low and similar up to 14 g nitrate/kg diet DM but increased when nitrate increased to 18 g nitrate/kg diet DM (P<0.001). An interaction between basal diet and day (P<0.001) indicated that MetHb% was consistently greater in Concentrate – than Mixed-fed steers at 18 g nitrate/kg diet DM. Maximum individual MetHb% was 15.4% (of total Hb), which is lower than considered clinically significant (30%). MetHb concentrations for individual steers remained consistent across time. Concentrate-fed steers were more efficient (lower residual feed intake (RFI) values) than Mixed-fed steers (P<0.01), with lower dry matter intake (DMI) (kg/day) (P<0.001) and similar average daily gain (ADG). CHX steers were more efficient (lower RFI; P<0.01) than LU steers with greater ADG (P<0.01), lower DMI (/kg BW; P<0.01) and lower fat depth (P<0.001). ADG, BW or DMI did not differ across dietary treatments (P>0.05). Neither basal diet nor treatment affected carcass quality (P>0.05), but CHX steers achieved a greater killing out proportion (P<0.001) than LU steers. Thus, adding nitrate to the diet or increasing the level of dietary lipid through the use of cold-pressed RSC, did not adversely affect health or performance of finishing beef steers when used within the diets studied.

Keywords

beef cattlelipidmethaemoglobinnitrateperformance

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
animal , Volume 10 , Issue 5 , May 2016 , pp. 786 - 795
Copyright
© The Animal Consortium 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Basarab, JA, Price, MA, Aalhus, JL, Okine, EK, Snelling, WM and Lyle, KL 2003. Residual feed intake and body composition in young growing cattle. Canadian Journal of Animal Science 83, 189–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brask, M, Lund, P, Weisbjerg, MR, Hellwing, ALF, Poulsen, M, Larsen, MK and Hvelplund, T 2013. Methane production and digestion of different physical forms of rapeseed as fat supplements in dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science 96, 2356–2365.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bruning-Fann, CS and Kaneene, JB 1993. The effects of nitrate, nitrite, and N-nitroso compounds on animal health. Veterinary and Human Toxicology 35, 237–253.Google ScholarPubMed
Cockburn, A, Brambilla, G, Fernández, M-L, Arcella, D, Bordajandi, LR, Cottrill, B, van Peteghem, C and Dorne, J-L 2013. Nitrite in feed: from animal health to human health. Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology 270, 209–217.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cottle, DJ, Nolan, JV and Wiedemann, SG 2011. Ruminant enteric methane mitigation: a review. Animal Production Science 51, 491–514.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Craigie, CR, Navajas, EA, Purchas, RW, Maltin, CA, Bunger, L, Hoskin, SO, Ross, DW, Morris, ST and Roehe, R 2012. A review of the development and use of video image analysis (VIA) for beef carcass evaluation as an alternative to the current EUROP system and other subjective systems. Meat Science 92, 307–318.Google Scholar
El-Zaiat, HM, Araujo, RC, Soltan, YA, Morsy, AS, Louvandini, H, Pires, AV, Patino, HO, Correa, PS and Abdalla, AL 2014. Encapsulated nitrate and cashew nut shell liquid on blood and rumen constituents, methane emission, and growth performance of lambs. Journal of Animal Science 92, 2214–2224.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fisher, AL 2007. Beef carcass classification in the EU: an historical perspective. In Evaluation of carcass and meat quality in beef and sheep (ed. C.,Lazzaroni, S. Gigli, D. Gabiña), pp 19–30. Wageningen Academic Publishers, Wageningen (EAAP publication No. 123).Google Scholar
Grainger, C and Beauchemin, KA 2011. Can enteric methane emissions from ruminants be lowered without lowering their production? Animal Feed Science and Technology 166–167, 308–320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hulshof, RBA, Berndt, A, Gerrits, WJJ, Dijkstra, J, van Zijderveld, SM, Newbold, JR and Perdok, HB 2012. Dietary nitrate supplementation reduces methane emission in beef cattle fed sugarcane-based diets. Journal of Animal Science 90, 2317–2323.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Huyen, LTN, Do, HQ, Preston, TR and Leng, RA 2010. Nitrate as fermentable nitrogen supplement to reduce rumen methane production (ed. TR Preston, RS Sansoucy, JS Correa and H Oorio), 146pp. Livestock Research for Rural Development 22 (online). Retrieved June 10, 2015, from http://www.lrrd.org/lrrd22/8/huye22146.htm.Google Scholar
Hyslop, JJ, Duthie, C-A, Ross, DW, Rooke, JA and Roehe, R 2012. An assessment of alternative test length periods when measuring liveweight change in finishing cattle during feed efficiency studies. Advances in Animal Biosciences 3, 46.Google Scholar
Jeyanathan, J, Martin, C and Morgavi, DP 2014. The use of direct-fed microbials for mitigation of ruminant methane emissions: a review. Animal 8, 250–261.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, KA and Johnson, DE 1995. Methane emissions from cattle. Journal of Animal Science 73, 2483–2492.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kempster, AJ, Cook, GL and Grantley-Smith, M 1986. National estimates of the body composition of British cattle, sheep and pigs with special reference to trends in fatness: a review. Meat Science 17, 107–138.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lee, C and Beauchemin, KA 2014. A review of feeding supplementary nitrate to ruminant animals: nitrate toxicity, methane emissions, and production performance. Canadian Journal of Animal Science 94, 557–570.Google Scholar
Li, L, Davis, J, Nolan, J and Hegarty, R 2012. An initial investigation on rumen fermentation pattern and methane emission of sheep offered diets containing urea or nitrate as the nitrogen source. Animal Production Science 52, 653–658.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lovett, D, Lovell, S, Stack, L, Callan, J, Finlay, M, Conolly, J and O’Mara, FP 2003. Effect of forage/concentrate ratio and dietary coconut oil level on methane output and performance of finishing beef heifers. Livestock Production Science 84, 135–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, C, Morgavi, DP and Doreau, M 2010. Methane mitigation in ruminants: from microbe to the farm scale. Animal 4, 351–365.Google Scholar
Mc Geough, EJ, O’Kiely, P, Hart, KJ, Moloney, AP, Boland, TM and Kenny, DA 2010. Methane emissions, feed intake, performance, digestibility, and rumen fermentation of finishing beef cattle offered whole-crop wheat silages differing in grain content. Journal of Animal Science 88, 2703–2716.Google Scholar
Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food 1992. Analysis of agricultural materials, 2nd edition. Her Majesty’s Stationary Office, London.Google Scholar
Moss, AR, Givens, DI and Garnsworthy, PC 1995. The effect of supplementing grass silage with barley on digestibility, in sacco degradability, rumen fermentation and methane production in sheep at two levels of intake. Animal Feed Science and Technology 55, 9–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newbold, JR, van Zijderveld, SM, Hulshof, RBA, Fokkink, WB, Leng, RA, Terencio, R, Powers, WJ, van Adrichem, PSJ, Paton, ND and Perdok, HB 2014. The effect of incremental levels of dietary nitrate on methane emissions in Holstein steers and performance in Nelore bulls. Journal of Animal Science 92, 5032–5040.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nguyen, NA, Khuc, TH, Duong, NK and Preston, TR 2010. Effect of calcium nitrate as NPN source on growth performance and methane emissions of goats fed sugar cane supplemented with cassava foliage. In Mekarn conference on livestock production, climate change and resource depletion (ed. TR Preston and B Ogle), 8pp. Pakes, Laos.Google Scholar
Nolan, JV, Hegarty, RS, Hegarty, J, Godwin, IR and Woodgate, R 2010. Effects of dietary nitrate on fermentation, methane production and digesta kinetics in sheep. Animal Production Science 50, 801–806.Google Scholar
Patra, AK 2013. The effect of dietary fats on methane emissions, and its other effects on digestibility, rumen fermentation and lactation performance in cattle: a meta-analysis. Livestock Science 155, 244–254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) 2014. Cattle and sheep enterprise profitability in Scotland. QMS, Edinburgh, UK.Google Scholar
Rooke, JA, Wallace, RJ, Duthie, C-A, McKain, N, de Souza, SM, Hyslop, JJ, Ross, DW, Waterhouse, T, Roehe, R 2014. Hydrogen and methane emissions from beef cattle and their rumen microbial community vary with diet, time after feeding and genotype. British Journal of Nutrition 112, 398–407.Google Scholar
Sangkhom, I, Preston, TR, Khang, DN and Leng, RA 2012. Effect of potassium nitrate and urea as fermentable nitrogen sources on growth performance and methane emissions in local “Yellow” cattle fed lime (Ca(OH)2) treated rice straw supplemented with fresh cassava foliage. Livestock Research for Rural Development 24, 27.Google Scholar
Sar, C, Santoso, B, Mwenya, B, Gamo, Y, Kobayashi, T, Morikawa, R, Kimura, K, Mizukoshi, H and Takahashi, J. 2004. Manipulation of rumen methanogenesis by the combination of nitrate with β1-4 galacto-oligosaccharides or nisin in sheep. Animal Feed Science and Technology 115, 129–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Takahashi, J, Ikeda, M, Matsuoka, S and Fujita, H 1998. Prophylactic effect of L-cysteine to acute and subclinical nitrate toxicity in sheep. Animal Feed Science and Technology 74, 273–280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, C 2004. Feed into milk: an advisory manual. Nottingham University Press, Nottingham.Google Scholar
Troy, S, Duthie, C-A, Hyslop, JJ, Roehe, R, Ross, DW, Wallace, RJ, Waterhouse, A and Rooke, JA 2015. Effectiveness of nitrate addition and increased oil content as methane mitigation strategies for beef cattle fed two contrasting basal diets. Journal of Animal Science 93, 1–9.Google Scholar
Van Zijderveld, SM, Gerrits, WJJ, Apajalahti, JA, Newbold, JR, Dijkstra, J, Leng, RA and Perdok, HB 2010. Nitrate and sulfate: effective alternative hydrogen sinks for mitigation of ruminal methane production in sheep. Journal of Dairy Science 93, 5856–5866.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van Zijderveld, SM, Gerrits, WJJ, Dijkstra, J, Newbold, JR, Hulshof, RBA and Perdok, HB 2011. Persistency of methane mitigation by dietary nitrate supplementation in dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science 94, 4028–4038.Google Scholar