Influence of feeding fruit by-products as alternative dietary fibre sources to wheat bran on beef production and quality of Angus steers.

ABSTRACT

The current study compared the growth performance, carcass and meat quality effects of feeding 150 g/kg DM of dried citrus pulp (DCP) or grape pomace (DGP) as alternative dietary fibre sources to 7 months-old Angus steers for 90d. Twenty-four steers were assigned to three dietary treatments (8 steers/treatment) in completely randomised design. Each steer was treated as an experimental unit. Feeding the DGP and DCP diets resulted in greater (P ≤ 0.05) average daily gain and live weight compared to the control diet. Steers fed the DGP diet had higher (P ≤ 0.05) dry matter intake, warm and cold carcass weights than those fed the DCP and control diets. Shear force and income over feed costs were greatest for the DGP diet followed by the DCP and control diets (P ≤ 0.05). Current findings suggest DGP is a better fibre source than DCP resulting in enhanced growth performance, carcass attributes and economic viability of feedlot steers.