Impacts of including Sweet Bran and wet distillers grains with solubles alone or in combination in finishing cattle diets on physically effective fiber concentrations and rumen buffering characteristics of feedlot cattle

This study evaluated the effects of Sweet Bran (SB) and wet distillers grains with solubles (WDGS) in the diet alone or in combination on physically effective neutral detergent fiber (peNDF), ruminal pH, and rumination behavior of finishing beef cattle. For this study, 455 steers (373 ± 15.5 kg) were allocated to 48 pens in a randomized complete block design. Treatments (n = 12 pens per treatment) were one of four steam-flaked corn-based diets containing no corn-milling products (CON), 20% WDGS (WDGS20), 20% SB (SB20), or 20% SB and 10% WDGS (COMBO). Within each pen, two steers were randomly selected to receive an indwelling ruminal pH bolus to quantify ruminal pH and a 3-axis accelerometer tag to measure rumination for the first 92 d of the study. Diet samples were collected weekly to determine particle size, neutral detergent fiber (NDF) concentration, and peNDF. Physically effective NDF was calculated using both the proportion of particles > 4.0 mm (peNDF_4.0) and the proportion of particles > 8.0 mm (peNDF_8.0). The percentage of particles > 4.0 mm was greatest (P < 0.01) for CON, intermediate for SB20, and least for WDGS20 and COMBO. Both NDF (P < 0.01) and peNDF_4.0 (P < 0.01) were greatest for COMBO, intermediate for WDGS20 and SB20, and least for CON. The percentage of particles > 8.0 was greatest (P < 0.01) for CON, intermediate for WDGS20 and SB20, and least for COMBO, but peNDF_8.0 did not differ (P = 0.40). A diet × day interaction (P < 0.01) was observed for daily rumination minutes per kg of DMI, NDF, peNDF_4.0, and peNDF_8.0. A diet × hour interaction (P < 0.01) was observed where CON cattle spent less time ruminating at 0800 and 1000 h in a 24 h period. Daily ruminal pH was greatest (P < 0.01) for COMBO, intermediate for SB20 and WDGS20, and least for CON. A diet × hour interaction (P < 0.01) was also observed for circadian ruminal pH, where pH was least for CON from 0800 to 1800 h. Relationships between peNDF, rumination behavior, and ruminal pH observed in this study suggest that SB and WDGS similarly enhance rumen buffering capacity when steam-flaked corn is replaced in the diet.