Nutritional value and in situ degradability of fruit-vegetable byproducts and their feeding effects on performance of growing Hanwoo steers

Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate nutritional value and in situ degradability of fruit-vegetable byproducts and their feeding effects on performance of growing Hanwoo steers. Methods: Nutritional value and in situ degradability of cabbage, Chinese cabbage and fruit-vegetable byproducts were assessed. In vivo feeding trial was also performed for 12 weeks. Thirty-six growing steers were randomly allocated into three groups according to BW and age in 12 pens (4 replications/treatment) and assigned to one of the three dietary treatments: Control (byproduct 0%), FV-B (fruit-vegetable byproduct 20%) and CA-B (cabbage peel 15% plus Chinese cabbage peel 15%, total byproduct 30%). Results: The CP contents of cabbage, Chinese cabbage and fruit-vegetable byproducts were 18.69, 20.20 and 10.07%, respectively. Concentrations of NDF were higher in cabbage (22.31%) and Chinese cabbage (28.83%) than fruit-vegetable (13.94%). Higher concentrations of NFC were observed for fruit-vegetable (66.72%) than cabbage (44.93%) and Chinese cabbage byproducts (24.69%). The effective degradability (ED) of both DM and NDF for fruit-vegetable byproduct (DM 84.69%; NDF 85.62%) was higher (p<0.05) than cabbage (DM 68.47%; NDF 55.97%) and Chinese cabbage byproducts (DM 68.09%; NDF 54.22). The DMI was not different among treatments because the amount of feed was kept constant according to the BW of growing steers to prevent overweight during the growing period. The ADG during the whole experimental period was not different among treatments (1.26, 1.25 and 1.34 kg/d for Control, FV-B, and CA-B). The ED of both DM and NDF degradability of the TMR diets were very similar among treatments. Feed conversion ratio (FCR) during the whole period showed no significant difference among treatments. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that fruit-vegetable and cabbage byproducts up to 20 % and 30 % (as fed basis), respectively can be included in TMR diets for growing beef cattle.