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. 2021 Oct 1;5(4):txab143. doi: 10.1093/tas/txab143

Table 2.

Feed intakes and feeding behavior for steers fed a high-grain finishing diet with no supplementation, benzoic acid, and/or live active yeast

Item Dietary treatment1 SEM P-value
CON ACD YST AY
DMI, kg/d
 Days 1 to 28 10.5 11.5 10.8 10.7 0.30 0.31
 Days 29 to 56 12.0b 13.5a 12.1b 12.0b 0.30 0.003
 Days 57 to 84 11.9b 13.5a 12.3b 12.3ab 0.33 0.008
 Days 85 to 106 11.0b 12.3a 11.5ab 11.5ab 0.26 0.02
 Overall 11.4b 12.6a 11.7b 11.8ab 0.27 0.005
 DMI SD2 4.1b 4.6a 4.2b 4.3ab 0.08 0.001
Feeding behavior3
 Time at feeder (min/d)
 Days 1 to 56 80 87 92 79 8.9 0.69
 Days 57 to 106 79 87 83 93 15.4 0.78
 Days 1 to 106 80 88 89 86 11.7 0.88
 Visits to feeder (visits/d)
 Days 1 to 56 29 37 35 36 3.3 0.15
 Days 57 to 106 24 29 27 32 3.2 0.19
 Days 1 to 106 80 67 62 68 6.3 0.17
 Time per visit (min)
 Days 1 to 56 3.8 2.4 2.7 2.2 0.35 0.23
 Days 57 to 106 3.2 2.7 3.0 2.8 0.59 0.65
 Days 1 to 106 3.1 2.5 2.8 2.5 0.42 0.40
 Visit size (g DM)
 Days 1 to 56 43 34 34 31 3.5 0.08
 Days 57 to 106 47 40 43 35 4.4 0.21
 Days 1 to 106 45 37 37 33 3.9 0.13
 Meals per day
 Days 1 to 56 9.4 10.7 10.0 10.9 0.53 0.17
 Days 57 to 106 9.6 10.1 9.5 11.1 0.75 0.27
 Days 1 to 106 9.6 10.5 9.9 11.1 0.58 0.22
 Time per meal (min)
 Days 1 to 56 8.7 8.2 9.1 7.5 0.74 0.39
 Days 57 to 106 8.4 8.2 8.6 8.4 1.03 0.92
 Days 1 to 106 8.5 8.2 8.9 7.9 0.82 0.79
 Meal size (g DM/meal)
 Day 1 to 56 122 123 117 105 6.4 0.29
 Day 57 to 106 123 133 127 108 10.5 0.36
 Day 1 to 106 122 127 121 106 7.2 0.35
 Eating rate (g DM/min)
 Days 1 to 56 16b 18a 16b 16ab 0.4 0.007
 Days 57 to 106 16b 18a 17ab 17ab 0.4 0.008
 Days 1 to 106 16b 18a 17b 17ab 0.4 0.002

1Treatments: CON: control (not supplemented); ACD: 0.5% of benzoic acid dietary inclusion on a DM basis (DSM Nutritional Products, Parsippany, NJ, USA); YST: 3 g/head per day of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Vistacell, AB Vista, Marlborough, UK); AY: 0.5% of benzoic acid dietary inclusion on a DM basis (DSM Nutritional Products) and 3 g/head per day of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Vistacell, AB Vista).

2 DMI SD = individual variation for DMI. Individual animal standard deviation measured weekly against the overall average DMI of each steer.

3 Means were calculated for each animal across weekly feeding behavior data.

a,bValues within a row with different superscripts differ significantly at P ≤ 0.05.