Foods (Nov 2022)

Effects of Hay, Baleage, and Soybean Hulls Waste Used as Supplemental Feeds on the Nutritional Profile of Grass-Finished Beef

  • Lucas Krusinski,
  • Isabella C. F. Maciel,
  • Selin Sergin,
  • Vijayashree Jambunathan,
  • Esha Garg,
  • Andrea J. Garmyn,
  • Sukhdeep Singh,
  • Chad A. Bitler,
  • Jason E. Rowntree,
  • Jenifer I. Fenton

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11233856
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 23
p. 3856

Abstract

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Grass-finished beef (GFB) has demonstrated wide nutritional variations with some GFB having a considerably higher n-6:n-3 ratio compared to grain-finished beef. To better understand these variations, the current study investigated the effects of commonly used supplemental feeds on the nutritional profile of GFB. This two-year study involved 117 steers randomly allocated to one of four diets: (1) grass+hay (G-HAY), (2) grass+baleage (G-BLG), (3) grass+soybean hulls (G-SH), and (4) baleage+soybean hulls in feedlot (BLG-SH). Feed samples were analyzed for their nutritional value, and beef samples underwent analysis for fatty acids (FAs), vitamin E, minerals, lipid oxidation, and shear force. FAs were measured by GC-MS, vitamin E was analyzed chromatographically, minerals were analyzed by ICP-MS, and lipid oxidation was measured via a thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) assay. G-SH beef had the highest n-6:n-3 ratio (p p p n-3 polyunsaturated FAs compared to the other groups (p n-6:n-3 ratio of beef.

Keywords