Sugarcane silage treated with calcium hydroxide in feedlot cattle diet: animal performance and meat quality

Abstract

This study aimed at evaluating sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L) silage treated with calcium hydroxide - Ca(OH)2 - (slacked lime) as the only roughage source in a feedlot ration, regarding animal performance and meat quality. Forty five Canchim steers (22 months old, 345 kg live weight) were assigned, in a complete randomized block design, to three treatments (total mixed rations - TMR - with 35% roughage): T1- TMR with fresh sugarcane; T2 - TMR with sugarcane silage treated with calcium hydroxide (10 g Ca(OH)2/kg of fresh forage); T3 - TMR with corn silage. Dry matter intake (DMI), feed efficiency (FE), average daily gain (ADG) and carcass yield (CY) were evaluated. Meat was analyzed for quality parameters (pH, water holding capacity, cooking loss, color and shear force) and sensory attributes. Steers fed the silage treated with calcium hydroxide presented similar (P>0.05) DMI (11.3 kg dry matter - DM/d), FE (0.15 kg live weight - LW/kg DMI) and CY (52.6%) compared to those receiving corn silage, despite their lower (P0.05) ADG and FE (1.5 kg LW/d and 0.14 kg LW/kg DMI, respectively). The different rations did not affect (P>0.05) meat quality parameters and sensory attributes, except fat color and off flavor sensory attribute. It was concluded that calcium hydroxide can be indicated as an efficient additive for the ensilage of sugarcane. Feedlot cattle fed TMR containing sugarcane silage treated with this additive, as the only roughage source, presented adequate performance and meat quality.

Keywords

• carcass yield
• dry matter intake
• feed efficiency
• physicochemical analysis
• sensory