HIGH LEVELS OF SODIUM CHLORIDE IN BEEF CATTLE DIETS

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Abstract
Trials were conducted to determine the effectiveness of adding elevated levels of NaCl and limestone to the diet of fattening beef steers as a means of improving feedlot performance. In Trial 1, 24 Hereford steers were fed high grain diets containing 0.5% (control), 3%, 5%, or 7% NaCl for 126 days. Growth and feed efficiency were not affected by level of NaCl, although feed intakes, organic matter intakes and carcass weights were reduced at the 7% level as compared with the control. Acetate to propionate ratio increased from 1.9 to 2.8 (P < 0.05) with NaCl supplementation while fecal starch tended to increase from 10.3% to 18.7% (P < 0.12). In Trial 2, 24 steers were fed finishing diets containing 0.5% NaCl (control), 2% limestone, 5% NaCl or 5% NaCl plus 2% limestone for 119 days. Steers consuming 5% NaCl or 5% NaCl plus 2% limestone showed 7.4% and 8.9% increases (P < 0.05) in efficiency of organic matter utilization over those fed the control diet. Addition of limestone to the 5% NaCl diet did not markedly increase performance over that seen with NaCl supplementation alone. Similar to Trail 1, fecal starch concentrations tended to increase (P < 0.10) in diets containing NaCl regardless of limestone supplementation. Use of 5% NaCl in the diet of finishing steers may be useful in increasing feed efficiency. Key words: Beef cattle, sodium chloride, high grain