Use of animal performance and gas flux for estimating dry matter intake in growing steers
Abstract
Abstract Dry matter intake (DMI) estimation in ruminants is important for providing a balanced diet, increasing animal performance, and reducing nutrient excretion. Gas flux (CO2 and CH4 production) is related to DMI; however, there is limited information regarding the use of gas flux production when estimating DMI in growing steers. This study aimed to 1) determine the relationship of animal growth performance and gas flux variables with DMI of growing steers fed a backgrounding diet, and 2) evaluate the DMI accuracy of eight equations to predict DMI from growing steers fed a forage-based diet. The relationship between DMI, animal growth performance, and gas flux variables was evaluated in 130 backgrounding steers, and two equations were generated to predict DMI. Then, six retrieved equations from the literature and the two new equations were used to determine the prediction accuracy using an independent dataset. Models were compared based on the mean square prediction error (MSPE), the decomposition of the root MSPE (RMSPE), and the concordance correlation coefficient (CCC). In backgrounding steers, DMI had a positive and significant relationship (P < 0.01) with shrunk body weight (SBW), average daily gain, and CO2 and CH4 production. The production of CO2 and CH4 independently explained 48.1% and 40.9% of the observed DMI in growing steers, respectively. One equation retrieved from the literature had an excellent agreement with the observed DMI, with a CCC value of 0.93…
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