Table 8.

Effect of diet energy density and level of intake on digestibility¹ and ruminal fill in ruminally cannulated steers

	High-energy diet		Low-energy diet			Probability
Item2	80	120	80	120	SEM	Diet	Intake	Diet × intake
DMI, kg/d	2.82a	4.22b	3.96c	5.88d	0.135	<0.01	<0.01	0.08
DMI, g/kg EBW0.75	44.18a	66.64c	59.74b	75.10d	1.622	<0.01	<0.01	0.04
Digestibility, %
DM	68.1a	60.5b	57.5b	59.1b	1.6	<0.01	<0.01	0.01
OM	71.7a	64.0b	61.3b	63.4b	1.6	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01
ADF	49.7a	44.0b	50.9a	52.3a	1.8	<0.01	<0.01	0.08
GE	68.6a	61.1b	59.0b	60.7b	1.7	<0.01	<0.01	0.02
Energy availability, Mcal/kg
GE	4.31		4.27
DE	2.96a	2.63b	2.52b	2.60b	0.071	<0.01	0.11	0.01
ME	2.42a	2.06b	2.06b	2.13b	0.058	<0.01	0.11	0.01
NEm	1.54a	1.30b	1.21b	1.27b	0.053	<0.01	0.11	0.01
Energy intake, Mcad/d
GE	12.13	18.09	16.31	20.75	0.593	<0.01	<0.01	0.22
DE	8.34	11.09	9.63	12.60	0.512	0.02	<0.01	0.85
ME	6.84	9.10	7.89	10.34	0.420	0.02	<0.01	0.85
NEm	4.34	5.48	4.64	6.18	0.305	0.20	<0.01	0.51
Ruminal DM fill, kg	3.39	4.57	4.41	4.92	0.276	0.02	0.01	0.24

^a,b,c,dWithin a row, means without a common superscript letter differ (P < 0.05).

¹Observed via feed and fecal analysis.

²DMI = dry matter intake; DM = dry matter; OM = organic matter; ADF = acid detergent fiber; GE = gross energy; DE = digestible energy; ME = metabolizable energy; NE_m = net energy for maintenance; EBW = empty body weight.