Table 5.
Effects of biochar inclusion in cattle diets on intake and total tract digestibility (finishing experiment)
| Item | Biochar inclusion, % DM | SEM | P-value1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0.8 | 3 | Lin | Quad | ||
| DM | ||||||
| Intake, kg/d | 12.0 | 12.9 | 12.1 | 0.51 | 0.84 | 0.07 |
| Excreted, kg/d | 3.40 | 3.90 | 3.82 | 0.19 | 0.18 | 0.08 |
| Digestibility, % | 71.5 | 70.0 | 68.2 | 1.54 | 0.14 | 0.74 |
| OM | ||||||
| Intake, kg/d | 10.2 | 11.1 | 10.4 | 0.43 | 0.81 | 0.06 |
| Excreted, kg/d | 2.78 | 3.30 | 3.20 | 0.18 | 0.18 | 0.07 |
| Digestibility, % | 72.8 | 70.4 | 68.7 | 1.65 | 0.13 | 0.52 |
| NDF | ||||||
| Intake, kg/d | 3.02 | 3.35 | 3.38 | 0.14 | 0.05 | 0.09 |
| Excreted, kg/d | 1.30 | 1.55 | 1.56 | 0.10 | 0.07 | 0.08 |
| Digestibility, % | 56.6 | 54.2 | 53.4 | 3.37 | 0.39 | 0.59 |
| ADF | ||||||
| Intake, kg/d | 1.28 | 1.45 | 1.53 | 0.06 | 0.01 | 0.10 |
| Excreted, kg/d | 0.61 | 0.73 | 0.89 | 0.04 | <0.01 | 0.18 |
| Digestibility, % | 52.4 | 50.1 | 41.3 | 3.05 | <0.01 | 0.77 |
| Energy | ||||||
| GEI, Mcal/d | 54.5 | 59.2 | 55.7 | 2.35 | 0.97 | 0.07 |
| Fecal energy, Mcal/d | 15.2 | 17.6 | 17.9 | 0.97 | 0.09 | 0.28 |
| DEI, Mcal/d | 39.3 | 41.6 | 37.8 | 2.12 | 0.35 | 0.25 |
| DEI, Mcal/kg DMI | 3.29 | 3.22 | 3.10 | 0.08 | 0.10 | 0.87 |
1Linear and quadratic orthogonal polynomial contrasts.