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Short-Term Voluntary Feed Intake and Rumen Volatile Fatty Acids of Steers Fed Diets Diluted with Polyethylene Particles¹

University of Wisconsin, Madison⁴

Abstract

Three experiments were conducted to determine the effect of diet dilution with polyethylene on the voluntary feed intake of steers. For the first 3 wk. in experiments I and II, the 90% ENE groups consumed the amount of feed necessary to bring daily ENE intake up to the control ENE intake. The fill of the reticulo-rumen was believed to be the factor limiting feed intake due to polyethylene accumulation or slow passage from the reticulo-rumen in the 80% ENE group in experiments I and II, and for the 90% ENE group in period 2 of experiment II. The results of experiment III supported the hypothesis that reticulo-rumen fill limited feed intake when steers were fed the 80% ENE diet. Analysis of the reticulo-rumen contents in experiments I and II confirmed the results of long-term studies in which increased fill was due to polyethylene accumulation. Differential feeding of colored and white polyethylene in experiments I and II showed that there was not a stasis of polyethylene particles in the rumen, but rather a continuous turnover. The relative percentages of volatile fatty acids were not significantly altered by total diet dilution, with the exception that isobutyric acid was increased in those steers fed the diluted diets in experiment I. However, a trend of increased acetate and decreased propionate was observed in those steers fed the diluted diets.

¹ Published with the approval of the Director of the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station, Madison.

² Present address: Department of Animal Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington.

³ The data in this paper were presented by the senior author in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

⁴ Department of Meat and Animal Science Paper No. 505.