2018 Volume 89 Issue 2 Pages 181-190
This study was conducted to investigate the influence of feeding differently shaped brown rice on daily gain (DG), digestibility, and rumen fermentation in 6-month-old Holstein heifers. We set up three dietary treatment groups that were fed different feed materials comprising 42% of the concentrate : the control group (10 heifers) was fed steam-flaked corn, the whole grain group (11 heifers) was fed whole grain brown rice, and the crushed grain group (11 heifers) was fed crushed brown rice. The roughage fed was timothy hay and the amount required was weighed together with the concentrated feed, and limited feed was provided. The body weight (at the end of examination), DG and feed efficiency were significantly lower in the whole grain group than in other groups. Dry matter digestibility and starch digestibility also decreased (P < 0.05) in the whole grain group. DG, feed efficiency, dry matter digestibility, and starch digestibility in the crushed grain group were equivalent to those in the control group. A markedly lower digestibility of whole grains was observed when brown rice was fed to Holstein heifers, which led to stagnation of their growth ; the crush grain treatment was inferior to the steam-flaked corn treatment. Therefore, these results indicate that crushed brown rice is a suitable substitute feed material for corn.
