RYE-CONTAINING COMPOUND FEED IN THE RATION OF NURSERY BULL CALVES

Abstract

Grain cereals are the main component of compound feed for animals. Rye occupies a special place among cereal crops as components of animal feed. Rye that is unsuitable for food purposes but quite suitable for feeding of farm animals can be used for compound feed production. It is necessary to substantiate scientifically the norms for rye introduction into compound feed concentrates in order to expand the possibility of its use in feeding of growing bulls and reduce the cost of compound feed. To solve these problems, four groups of growing bulls were formed and 4 recipes for compound feed concentrates with different doses of rye (0, 20, 30, 40%) were developed. The duration of the experiment was 135 days. Group feeding record as conducted daily. The animals were weighed every 30 days in order to know how they grow and develop. To identify the effect of the test grain (rye) on consumption of the main balanced ration, records were kept of the consumed feed and its residues the next day. The composition of the ration was changed every month after the animals were weighed. During the entire scientific and economic experiment, the records of the eaten feed (mixed feed and hay) were kept, and haylage was given to the experimental bulls, depending on edibility. Introduction of 20 to 40% rye in the compound feed does not reduce the balance of the ration of animals in the experiment. Gross weight gain and gain per day of the experimental bull-calves of the first three groups differed insignificantly. Animals from the IV group, which were given compound feed with 40% of rye, were inferior to the control groups by 5.6 kg in total gain, by 43 g in average daily gain. On average, 5.87-6.03 EFU were spent per 1 kg of live weight gain. For the first time, scientifically based norms were developed for rye introduction in compound feed-concentrates for young growing bulls. The influence of the developed feed-concentrates on the intensity of their growth was studied.