Feed Intake and Carcass Characteristics of Bunaji Bulls Fed Raw or Parboiled Rice Offal as Energy Source

Abstract

A feeding trial was conducted for 90 days using 20 Bunaji bulls aged 2-3 years with a live weight 210-249kg. Four bulls per treatment were allotted to five dietary treatments in a 2x2 factorial design with a common control. The concentrate and basal diets of Digitaria smutsii were offered at 2% body weight. At the end of the feeding trial, Carcass evaluation was also carried out with 15 Bulls to determine the carcass yield of the bulls fattened on the different experimental diet. There was no significant (P>0.05) difference in concentrate, hay, total dry matter intakes and daily weight gain of bulls fed the control diet (NRO) and diets containing RRO and PRO. Inclusion level of rice offal had no significant effect (P>0.05) on intake of concentrate, hay and total feed intake. However,  live weight gain of the bulls on the control diet was significantly (P<0.05) higher than bulls on 20 and 30% rice offal inclusion The intake of concentrate, hay, total feed  and daily live weight gain of the bulls were similar (P>0.05) irrespective of  type and inclusion levels of the rice offal. All the bulls experimented attained an average weight gain of between 1.11Kg to 1.29Kg which was above 1Kg.The carcass evaluation showed significant (P<0.05) difference with rice type for legs, spleen, Empty stomach, Empty intestine, inguinal fat, abdominal fat with PRO being higher except for the spleen which is higher for RRO. At varying levels of inclusion of rice offal, there was significant  (P<0.05) difference  in dressing percentage, Beef percent of carcass, meat to bone ratio, legs, hide, tail, empty stomach, stomach with content, empty intestine, Inguinal fat, kidney fat, abdominal fat, depth of chest fat, testis and blood. Carcass evaluation for bulls on diets with varying levels of inclusion of raw or parboiled rice offal were significant  (P< 0.05) for legs, hide, empty stomach, empty intestine, inguinal fat and abdominal fat. It was concluded from this trial that the meat from bulls fed either 30% raw or parboiled were of better quality due to low inguinal fat, kidney fat, abdominal fat and depth of chest fat hence it use can be adopted by farmers to improve the carcass characteristics of fattened bulls.

Keywords: Bunaji Bulls, Carcass evaluation, Feed intake, parboiled rice offal, raw rice offal.