Metabolizable energy requirements for maintenance of Thai Native and Brahman beff cattle: Evaluations based on observations of Energy retention

Abstract

The objective was to evaluate metabolizable energy (ME) requirement for maintenance of Thai native beef cattle and Brahman beef cattle fed with tropical feed in Thailand. Database, including 104 observations from 5 indirect calorimetry study publications, were constructed and analyzed to determine ME requirements for maintenance by linear regression (regressing ME intake and energy retention). The metabolizable energy requirement for maintenance of Thai native beef cattle was 388.75 KJ/kgBW0.75/d (energy retention = 0.89MEI - 345.99 (R2=0.7308, N=40, P<0.0001, SE=17.5346)) and 397.18 KJ/ kgBW0.75/d for Brahman cattle (energy retention = 0.76MEI - 301.86 (R2=0.9331, N=64, P<0.0001, SE=6.2676). The results showed that the energy requirement of Thai native cattle was lower than that of Brahman cattle and Bos taurus cattle (Hereford, Charolais crossbred, Angus, Holstein friesian) by approximately 2.12 and 30 percent. Respectively.