Rumen protected fat in kline barley or corn diets for beef cattle: digestibility, physiological, and feedlot...

A rumen protected fat product composed of Ca salts of fatty acids (CAF) was evaluated in beef cattle diets. Dietary treatments in a metabolism trial (six steers, 251 +/- 15 kg) and Feedlot Trial 1 (15 individually fed heifers, 355 +/- 11 kg) consisted of 62.1% corn and 3.2% soybean meal (C), 32.6% corn and 33.1% Kline barley (CB), and 28.2% corn, 33.1% barley, and 4.5% CAF (CBF) on a DM basis. Apparent DM and OM digestibilities were higher (P less than .05) and NDF digestibility was lower (P less than .05) for C than for CB and CBF. Apparent ether extract digestibility was higher (P less than .01) for CBF than for CB. Retention of N was higher (P less than .05) for C than for CB and CBF. On d 42, Feedlot Trial 1 ruminal fluid acetate:propionate ratio was lower (P less than .01) for C than for CB and CBF, and the ratio was lower (P less than .01) for CB than for CBF. Treatments did not affect (P less than .10) ADG and DMI of heifers, but feed/gain was lower (P less than .05) for C than for CB and CBF, and feed/gain was higher (P less than .05) for CBF than for CB. In Feedlot Trial 2, steers and heifers were fed the C diet or a 57% corn, 21.4% peanut hull, 4.1% soybean meal, and 4.5% CAF diet (CF) on an ad libitum basis for 50 d. Ruminal fluid acetate and propionate were unaffected (P greater than .10) by dietary treatments. Cattle ADG tended to be lower (P greater than .10), DMI was lower (P less than .05), and feed/gain tended to be improved (P greater than .10) for CF compared with C. Kline barley has potential as a feed grain for cattle, but CAF may not improve beef cattle performance, especially when diets contain barley.