Growth performance, mineral balance and metabolic profile of growing Sahiwal Friesian cattle as affected by cocoa pod husks (CPH) levels in palm kernel cake (PKC) based diets

H.K. Wong and M. Wan Zahari

Abstract

The results of a study on growth performance, nutrient requirements, mineral balance and metabolic profile of growing Sahiwal Friesian cattle fed PKC and CPH diets were reported. Intake of dry matter was not significantly different between treatments, but ME and DP intake and FCR were significantly different between treatments. The DP, DE and ME values of the treatments decreased with increasing CPH levels in the diets. The apparent digestibility values (%) for energy, protein and Ca were significantly different between treatments and were respectively 76.0, 69.2 and 38.2 for treatment 1; 63.9, 63.2 and 25.3 for treatment 2; and 58.2, 57.7 and 15.2 for treatment 3. Except for K, the digestibility of P, Ca, Mg, Na and S decreased with increasing CPH content in the diet. There were no significant differences in initial and median liveweights between treatments but final liveweights were significantly different between treatment 1 and 3. The ME and DP requirements for growth were higher in treatment 1, but the requirements were lower in treatment 3 when compared to Kearl’s recommendations. The animals had adequate serum mineral status. There were significant differences in serum Ca status but no significant differences were observed for Na status between all three treatments. The concentration of serum GGT, AP, GOT, CR, CK and urea were within the normal range for feedlot steers. Significant differences in serum AP and CK were observed for the start and end phases within treatments. There were, however, no significant differences in serum AP and CK between treatments. Except for urea, serum enzyme values increased between phases for all treatments. Based on the growth performance and balance trial data, a CPH inclusion of 30% is proposed for PKC based diets.

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