Intake, Digestibility, Ruminal Fermentation, and In Situ Disappearance of Bermudagrass Hay by Lactating Beef Cows Offered Corn or Hominy Feed as Supplements at Two Different Rates

Abstract

Hominy feed (HF) has been evaluated in feedlot and dairy rations but has not been evaluated as a supplemental energy source for lactating beef cows. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of level of HF supplementation on intake, digestibility, ruminal fermentation characteristics, and in situ dry matter (DM) disappearance of bermudagrass hay. Five ruminally cannulated lactating beef cows (body weight (BW) = 596 kg, SE = 13.9) were used in an experiment with a 5 × 5 Latin square design. Treatments were a bermudagrass hay-basal diet with low HF (LH; 0.25% BW), medium HF (MH; 0.50% BW), low ground corn (LC; 0.25% BW), medium ground corn (MC; 0.50% BW) and no supplement (CON). Cows were housed individually, and supplements were offered at 0800 daily. Hay was offered to maintain 10% refusal. Periods were 16–d, with 10 d for adaptation. Ruminal fluid was sampled on d 14 of each period for measurement of pH, volatile fatty acids, and rumen ammonia-N. An in situ degradation experiment for bermudagrass hay was completed for each diet. Hay dry-matter intake (DMI % BW) was not affected (p = 0.14) by supplement, but total DMI (DMI % BW) was greater (p ≤ 0.05) in MH and MC compared to LH and CON. Digestible DMI % BW was greater (p = 0.05) in MH compared to LC, MC was intermediate, and LH and CON were lesser (p ≤ 0.01) than all other diets. Dry-matter fill, passage rate, and retention time did not differ by diet (p ≥ 0.31). A diet × time interaction was observed for ammonia-N (p = 0.0002), and propionate (p = 0.02) time effects were observed for other parameters, but no diet effects. Bermudagrass hay’s potentially degradable fraction was greater (p ≤ 0.05) in LH than MH and CON, but effective DM degradability was not different (p = 0.39) among diets. Overall, no diets reduced hay intake or disappearance compared to CON; therefore, no negative associative effects were observed from any of the supplements at the levels offered in this study.