A Comparative Study On The Effects Of Grazing And Stall Feeding On The Performance And Meat Quality Of Beef Cattle

Grazing and stall feeding are the two main feeding patterns of beef cattle in China.There are great differences in diet,drinking water,environment,feeding management and welfare between them.Traditionally,the western and the northern are the main producing areas of beef cattle in China,mainly grazing.With the increase of food resources and the change of people's dietary structure in farming areas,the stall feeding beef cattle has been developing rapidly,which has occupied a leading position in China's beef cattle industry.According to the demands of different growth and development stages of beef cattle,reasonable ration can be provided for stall feeding,which can effectively improve the production performance of beef cattle,shorten the fattening time and increase the breeding efficiency.With the intensive and modern development of beef cattle industry,the incidence of nutritional metabolic diseases in beef cattle is increasing year by year,and the quality problems of beef products emerge in endlessly.Because of the natural,green and pollution-free breeding environment of grazing beef cattle,its beef products are favored by more consumers.It is of great significance to carry out the comparative study on the nutritional metabolism,production performance and meat quality of beef cattle under grazing and stall feeding patterns,so as to promote the development of beef cattle industry in China.In this study,the eastern part of Inner Mongolia was taken as the research area,20 healthy Simmental bulls with a body weight of 400 kg and a similar body condition were randomly divided into two groups to establish the grazing and stall feeding patterns in the pasture and farming area respectively,10 in each group.The study lasted 120 days.The blood metabolic profiles,urine biochemical indicators,production performance and meat quality of beef cattle under the two feeding patterns were compared and analyzed by HPLC,GCMS,ICP-MS,ICP-OES,ELISA,HE and MASSON staining methods,to provide theoretical and experimental basis for raising high-quality beef cattle.Study on the two different feeding patterns: The results showed that there were significant differences in forage nutrition,drinking water quality,feeding environment and animal welfare.The total content of fatty acids,amino acids,vitamins and minerals in fresh pasture of grazing beef cattle was more balanced than that of alfalfa,cereal grass,hay and corn straw.The sensory index,color index,turbidity and total bacterial count of drinking water of grazing beef cattle are significantly lower than those of stall feeding beef cattle?p<0.05?.The feed times,feeding density,environmental noise and the feed additives using of grazing beef cattle were significantly better than those of stall feeding beef cattle?p<0.05?.Effects of feeding patterns on biochemical indexes of blood and urine in beef cattle: The results showed that the serum ALT,AST,LDH,GGT and ALP contents in grazing beef cattle were significantly higher than those of stall feeding beef cattle?p<0.05?,It suggested that the growth and metabolism of grazing beef cattle were vigorous,the level of protein metabolism and the ability of glycolysis were better than that of house fed beef cattle.The serum HP,IL-6 and IL-8 contents of grazing beef cattle were significantly higher than that of stall feeding beef cattle?p<0.05?.It suggested that the immune function of grazing beef cattle was higher than that of grazing beef cattle.The serum EPI and PTH contents of grazing beef cattle were significantly different from those of grazing beef cattle?p<0.05?.It suggested that there was a certain degree of stress response,and weak immune function of stall feeding beef cattle for the environment noise,feeding density,human intervention.The serum BA content of stall feeding beef cattle was significantly higher than that of grazing beef cattle?p<0.05?.It suggested that there are some abnormal lipid metabolism in stall feeding beef cattle.The pH value of urine in stall feeding beef cattle was significantly lower than that in the grazing beef cattle?p<0.05?,which may be related to the high proportion of energy and feed,the low amount of exercise and the metabolic acidosis.All the results showed that there were some differences between the two feeding patterns,and the biochemical indexes of blood and urine of grazing beef cattle were better than those of stall feeding beef cattle.Effects of feeding patterns on the production performance of beef cattle: The results showed that the body weight gain of the stall feeding beef cattle was significantly higher than that of the grazing beef cattle?p<0.05?.The body height,chest circumference and hind leg circumference of stall feeding beef cattle were significantly higher than those of the grazing beef cattle?p<0.05?.The live weight,carcass weight,carcass rate,net meat weight,net meat rate and eye muscle area of stall feeding beef cattle were significantly higher than those of the grazing beef cattle?p<0.05?.All the results showed the fattening performance,growth performance and carcass performance of stall feeding beef cattle were better than those of grazing beef cattle.Effects of feeding patterns on beef quality: The results showed that the cooking loss rate,cooked meat rate,muscle fiber and other meat quality indexes of grazing beef were significantly better than those of stall feeding beef?p<0.05?.TAA,vitamin C,vitamin B₁,P and K contents of grazing beef were significantly higher than those of stall feeding beef?p<0.05?.The content of all kinds of fatty acids contents in stall feeding beef was significantly higher than that in grazing beef?p<0.05?,which may be related to the higher proportion of energy feed and less exercise.All the results showed that grazing beef had more nutritional value.In conclusion,there may be some problems such as stress reaction,abnormal lipid metabolism,weak immune function and poor beef quality in stall feeding beef cattle.In production,strengthening the feeding management,improving the welfare,and optimizing the ration ratio of stall feeding beef cattle are conducive to reducing the stress reaction,improving the metabolism level,enhancing the disease resistance and improving the quality of stall feeding beef.The production performance of grazing beef cattle is relatively low.In production,improving the quality of drinking water and supplementing concentrate properly in the dry season are conducive to improving the beef quality and increasing the breeding benefit of grazing beef cattle.In the Eastern Inner Mongolia,the best way to raise beef cattle is grazing in the flourishing period and stall feeding in the withering period.