Effect of fish oil supplementation and forage source on Holstein bulls performance, carcass characteristics and fatty acids profile

Figures & data

Table 1. Ingredient and chemical composition of dietary treatments.

	10% alfalfa hay (AH)			20% alfalfa hay (AH)
FO (%)	0	1	2.1	0	1	2.1
Alfalfa hay	10	10	10	20	20	20
Corn silage	20	20	20	10	10	10
Barley grain	41	41	41	41	41	41
Wheat grain	2	1	0.5	5	3	0.5
Soybean meal	2	2	2	2	2	2
Canola meal	12	13	14	10	10	11
Beat pulp	5	5	5	5	5	5
Wheat bran	5	4	2	4	5	5
Zeolite	1	1	1	1	1	1
Calcium carbonate	0.5	0.55	0.68	0.4	0.5	0.62
Sodium bicarbonate	0.7	0.7	0.7	0.7	0.7	0.7
Vitamin and mineral premix^a	0.7	0.7	0.7	0.7	0.7	0.7
Salt	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
Fish oil	0	1	2.1	0	1	2.1
Chemical composition
DM^b (%)	56	56	56	56	56	56
ME^c (Mcal/kg)	2.61	2.61	2.61	2.61	2.61	2.61
EE^d (% of DM)	3	4	5.1	3	4	5.1
CP^e (%)	15.5	15.5	15.5	15.5	15.5	15.5
NDF^f (%)	37	37	37	35	35	35

a Contained per kg of diet: Ca 195 g; P 80 g; Mg 21 g; Na 50 g; Fe 3 g; Cu 0.3 g; Zn 0.3 g; Mn 22 g; I 0.12 g; Co 0.1 g; Se 0.02 g; vitamin A 600,000 U; vitamin D 200,000 U; vitamin E 200 U.

b Dry matter.

c Metabolizable energy.

d Ether extract.

e Crude protein.

f NDF: neutral detergent fiber.

Table 2. Fatty acids composition of fish oil.

Fatty acids	Fish oil (%)
C14:0	6.20
C16:0	22.50
C16:1	7.90
C18:0	4.80
C18:1	25.80
C18:2	3.60
C18:3	1.30
C20:4	0.70
C20:5	8.30
C22:6	17.60

Table 3. Performance of Holstein bulls fed different dietary fish oil level and alfalfa hay ratio.

	10% AH			20% AH				p^a < .05
% FO	0	1	2.1	0	1	2.1	SEM	AH	FO	AH × FO	FOL	FOQ
Initial BW	340	338	384	342	341	338	17.3	0.35	0.41	0.30	0.93	0.44
Final BW	448	447	452	447	447	436	5.2	0.19	0.70	0.26	0.89	0.74
ADG, kg/day	1.14	1.15	1.17	1.15	1.14	1.09	0.073	0.83	0.97	0.73	0.97	0.87
DMI, kg/day	9.15	8.70	8.29	8.16	8.34	7.51	0.256	0.01	0.01	0.45	0.61	0.26
F:G, kg/kg	8.71	8.34	7.34	7.63	7.60	7.07	0.480	0.11	0.18	0.76	0.69	0.53

a AH: portion of alfalfa hay; FO: effect of dietary fish oil; AH × FO: alfalfa hay and fish oil interaction.

Table 4. Carcass characteristics of Holstein bulls fed different dietary fish oil level and alfalfa hay ratio.

	10% AH			20% AH				p^a < .05
% FO	0	1	2.1	0	1	2.1	SEM	AH	FO	AH × FO	FOL	FOQ
HCW^b (kg)	234.1	227.5	239.2	222.0	228.3	252.8	5.63	0.87	0.01	0.18	0.98	0.06
CCW^c (kg)	220.3^b	217.9^b	225.7^b	213.7^b	215.8^b	243.1^a	4.540	0.45	0.004	0.07	0.97	0.03
C per^d (%)	50	48	51	47	48	54	1.00	0.82	0.01	0.21	0.84	0.06
Carcass length (cm)	145.20	149.12	148.42	137.28	145.28	146.20	3.210	0.11	0.18	0.73	0.09	0.27
LM area^e (cm^2)	88.76	87.38	80.60	106.82	93.09	96.65	7.347	0.05	0.50	0.63	0.32	0.61
Prirenal fat (kg)	5.70^bc	7.94^b	9.34^a	6.86^b	7.29^b	4.68^b	1.011	0.13	0.43	0.06	0.21	0.25
Visceral fat (kg)	11.72	9.09	7.19	8.85	7.85	9.56	1.433	0.67	0.51	0.37	0.29	0.52
Fat thickness (mm)	4.50	3.32	3.00	3.90	3.58	3.28	0.272	0.92	0.01	0.29	0.02	0.32

^aAH: portion of alfalfa hay; FO: effect of dietary fish oil; AH × FO: alfalfa hay and fish oil interaction.

^bHot carcase weight.

^cCold carcase weight.

^dCarcass percentage.

^eLongissimus dorsi muscle area.

Table 5. Chemical composition of longissimus dorsi muscle and hepatic of Holstein bulls fed different dietary fish oil level and alfalfa hay ratio.

	10% AH			20% AH				P^a < 0.05
% FO	0	1	2.1	0	1	2.1	SEM	AH	FO	AH × FO	FOL	FOQ
LM
Dry matter	26.16	25.66	26.00	25.66	27.33	27.66	1.231	0.55	0.64	0.68	0.39	0.56
Protein	21.81	21.35	21.66	21.23	21.96	22.18	0.544	0.68	0.76	0.49	0.80	0.89
Fat	3.00	3.33	3.03	2.60	2.93	2.93	0.310	0.26	0.58	0.86	0.31	0.39
Ash	0.99	1.03	1.24	1.08	1.24	1.03	0.133	0.77	0.72	0.32	0.48	0.67
Hepatic
Dry matter	27.63	27.86	27.90	27.86	27.66	27.86	0.648	0.53	0.61	0.80	0.46	0.34
Fat	3.80	3.26	3.00	3.63	3.76	3.50	0.678	0.62	0.79	0.85	0.77	0.95
Ash	1.19	1.12	1.31	1.35	1.08	1.08	0.173	0.77	0.61	0.53	0.33	0.38

a AH: portion of alfalfa hay; FO: effect of dietary fish oil; AH × FO: alfalfa hay and fish oil interaction.

Table 6. Meat quality parameters of longissimus dorsi muscle of Holstein bulls fed different dietary fish oil level and alfalfa hay ratio.

	10% AH			20% AH				p^a < .05
% FO	0	1	2.1	0	1	2.1	SEM	AH	FO	AH × FO	FOL	FOQ
pH	5.89	5.49	5.55	5.37	5.48	5.56	0.110	0.10	0.15	0.15	0.06	0.16
Shear force	4.26	2.62	4.13	3.80	4.46	4.29	0.643	0.34	0.57	0.21	0.46	0.31
Colour^b
L*	32.77	39.78	44.50	30.06	35.79	41.00	3.576	0.28	0.05	0.95	0.12	0.82
a*	12.51	12.54	13.16	12.97	13.15	11.73	0.842	0.86	0.89	0.45	0.90	0.74
b*	3.16	5.13	3.69	4.83	4.06	4.99	1.071	0.49	0.85	0.43	0.59	0.66
Hue angle	14.16	22.30	15.60	20.44	17.20	22.19	4.299	0.48	0.84	0.36	0.58	0.67
Chroma value	12.90	13.56	13.68	13.84	13.76	12.94	0.960	0.86	0.92	0.70	0.77	0.71
TBARs value^c	0.14^c	0.35^b	1.36^a	0.13^c	0.40^b	0.68^b	0.141	0.09	0.01	0.04	0.11	0.12
Cholesterol (mg/dl)	25.26	31.86	58.30	24.71	37.74	47.77	6.275	0.74	0.01	0.44	0.14	0.45

a AH: portion of alfalfa hay; FO: effect of dietary fish oil; AH × FO: alfalfa hay and fish oil interaction.

b L: lightness; a: redness; b: yellowness.

c Thio-barbituric acid reactive substances (µg of MDA/g of meat).

Table 7. Fatty acids profile (g/100 g fatty acid) of longissimus dorsi muscle of Holstein bulls fed different dietary fish oil level and alfalfa hay ratio.

	10% AH			20% AH				p^a < .05
% FO	0	1	2.1	0	1	2.1	SEM	AH	FO	AH × FO	FOL	FOQ
C10:0	0.96	0.80	0.65	1.41	1.06	0.56	0.310	0.44	0.24	0.70	0.45	0.89
C12:0	0.50	0.28	0.37	0.18	0.35	0.33	0.152	0.45	0.97	0.49	0.87	0.82
C14:0	3.49	4.06	3.44	3.83	3.21	3.48	0.233	0.45	0.66	0.07	0.91	0.72
C14:1	0.73	0.59	0.54	0.81	0.71	0.57	0.081	0.33	0.08	0.85	0.18	0.83
C16:0	24.67	27.46	27.59	25.11	26.16	27.55	0.536	0.50	0.01	0.28	0.01	0.22
C16:1	3.67	3.13	3.20	3.74	3.97	3.37	0.443	0.34	0.65	0.65	0.74	0.88
C17:0	1.33	1.16	1.16	1.58	1.29	1.08	0.121	0.36	0.08	0.49	0.11	0.57
C17:1	0.53	0.34	0.39	0.33	0.41	0.35	0.147	0.63	0.91	0.65	0.73	0.86
C18:0	17.46	16.84	16.28	17.93	15.98	16.50	0.521	0.90	0.05	0.43	0.05	0.18
C18:1^trans-11	1.32	1.63	2.14	1.25	1.62	2.00	0.100	0.40	0.01	0.84	0.01	0.59
C18:1^c^is-9	39.42	37.12	37.20	36.83	37.95	37.12	0.883	0.41	0.58	0.20	0.53	0.89
C18:2^c^is-9, trans-11	0.15	0.23	0.28	0.17	0.22	0.27	0.013	0.77	0.01	0.62	0.01	0.44
C18:2	3.37	3.11	3.00	4.18	4.15	3.17	0.386	0.05	0.21	0.51	0.72	0.55
C20:0	0.23	0.20	0.21	0.20	0.17	0.16	0.038	0.30	0.62	0.96	0.39	0.60
C18:3	0.23	0.31	0.37	0.22	0.29	0.38	0.022	0.72	0.01	0.81	0.01	0.98
C20:1	0.23	0.25	0.40	0.22	0.23	0.35	0.033	0.40	0.01	0.85	0.61	0.07
C20:2	0.44	0.64	0.79	0.45	0.61	0.81	0.061	0.87	0.01	0.88	0.01	0.90
C20:3	0.11	0.09	0.08	0.13	0.08	0.07	0.021	0.96	0.18	0.76	0.14	0.48
C20:4	0.24	0.32	0.38	0.25	0.31	0.44	0.024	0.43	0.01	0.49	0.03	0.70
C22:0	0.13	0.11	0.09	0.18	0.14	0.09	0.021	0.24	0.11	0.69	0.28	0.96
C22:1	0.52	0.62	0.42	0.71	0.37	0.41	0.183	0.86	0.56	0.50	0.52	0.89
C24:0	0.05	0.11	0.26	0.06	0.12	0.20	0.021	0.46	0.01	0.34	0.05	0.24
C24:1	0.08	0.11	0.05	0.08	0.10	0.07	0.038	0.80	0.51	0.86	0.63	0.35
C20:5	0.01	0.12	0.27	0.02	0.13	0.21	0.020	0.51	0.01	0.20	0.01	0.93
C22:6	0.01	0.25	0.34	0.02	0.24	0.34	0.022	0.91	0.01	0.92	0.01	0.01
SFA^b	48.87	51.06	50.07	50.53	48.52	49.99	0.840	0.65	0.92	0.08	0.92	0.91
MUFA^c	46.54	43.83	44.37	43.99	45.38	44.28	0.891	0.63	0.59	0.12	0.48	0.80
PUFA^d	4.57	5.10	5.54	5.47	6.08	5.72	0.403	0.06	0.31	0.56	0.19	0.46
UFA^e	51.12	48.93	49.92	49.46	51.47	50.00	0.842	0.65	0.92	0.08	0.92	0.91
P/S^f	0.09	0.10	0.11	0.10	0.12	0.11	0.0082	0.06	0.36	0.44	0.20	0.42
n-6^g	3.73	3.53	3.46	4.56	4.55	3.69	0.381	0.05	0.33	0.57	0.79	0.60
n-3^h	0.26	0.69	0.99	0.27	0.68	0.93	0.048	0.61	0.01	0.76	0.01	0.11
n-6/n-3^i	14.89	5.16	3.49	16.78	6.72	3.97	1.287	0.24	0.01	0.85	0.01	0.01
IA^j	1.11^b	1.26^a	1.18^a^b	1.19^a^b	1.09^b	1.18^a^b	0.04	0.46	0.77	0.03	0.61	0.84
IT^k	1.75^a^b	1.86^a	1.74^a^b	1.86^a	1.67^b	1.75^a^b	0.06	0.66	0.61	0.07	0.50	0.82

a AH: portion of alfalfa hay; FO: effect of dietary fish oil; AH × FO: alfalfa hay and fish oil interaction.

b Saturated fatty acids.

c Monounsaturated fatty acids.

d Polyunsaturated fatty acids.

e Unsaturated fatty acids.

f Polyunsarurated to saturated fatty acids ratio.

g n-6 fatty acids.

h n-3 fatty acids.

i n-6 to n-3 fatty acids ratio.

j Index of atherogenicity = [(4 × C14:0) + 16:0 + 18:0)/(MUFA + n-6 PUFA + n-3 PUFA)].

k Index of thrombogenicity = (C14:0 +C16:0 + C18:0)/[(0.5 × MUFA) + (0.5 × n-6 PUFA) + (3 × n-3 PUFA) + (n-3 PUFA/n-6 PUFA)].