Soybean Hulls-Beef Steers

Six ruminally fistulated steers were utilized in a digestion trial to evaluate the performance of steers consuming soybean hulls and/or corn while consuming bermudagrass hay. The treatments were: 1) 100% soybean hulls, 2) 75% hulls and 25% corn, and 3) 100% corn fed at 1.5% of the steer's body weight. Results indicated no differences in dry matter, organic matter or crude protein apparent digestibilities. Steers consuming soybean hulls or the hull-corn treatments had significantly greater (P<0.05) NDF, ADF and hemicellulose digestibilities compared to the corn supplemented steers. The researchers concluded that using soybean hulls as a supplement may improve fiber utilization compared to corn when consuming bromegrass hay.

Henley, J C. and co-workers. 2004. Apparent nutrient digestibilities and ruminal alterations in beef steers consuming bromegrass hay and supplemented with soybean hulls and/or corn. Presentation 564, p291-292 of the 2004 Joint Annual Meeting abstracts.