Effects of Chicory/Perennial Ryegrass Swards Compared with Perennial Ryegrass Swards on the Performance and Carcass Quality of Grazing Beef Steers

et al. (2014) Effects of Chicory/Perennial Ryegrass Swards Compared with Perennial Ryegrass Swards on the Performance and Carcass Quality of Grazing Beef Steers. PLoS ONE 9(1): e86259. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0086259 Effects of Chicory/Perennial Ryegrass Swards Compared with Perennial Ryegrass Swards on the Performance and Carcass Quality of Grazing Beef Steers Christina L. Marley 0 Rhun Fychan 0 John W. Davies 0 Nigel D. Scollan 0 R. Ian Richardson 0 Vince J. Theobald 0 Elizabeth Genever 0 Andy B. Forbes 0 Ruth Sanderson 0 Marinus F.W. te Pas, Wageningen UR Livestock Research, Netherlands 0 1 Animal and Microbial Sciences, Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS), Aberystwyth University , Gogerddan, Ceredigion , United Kingdom , 2 University of Bristol, Food Science and Food Safety Group, Division of Farm Animal Science (DFAS) , Langford, Bristol , United Kingdom , 3 EBLEX , Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board , Stoneleigh Park, Kenilworth, Warwickshire , United Kingdom , 4 Merial Animal Health, Lyon , France An experiment investigated whether the inclusion of chicory (Cichorium intybus) in swards grazed by beef steers altered their performance, carcass characteristics or parasitism when compared to steers grazing perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne). Triplicate 2-ha plots were established with a chicory/ryegrass mix or ryegrass control. Forty-eight Belgian Bluecross steers were used in the first grazing season and a core group (n = 36) were retained for finishing in the second grazing season. The experiment comprised of a standardisation and measurement period. During standardisation, steers grazed a ryegrass/white clover pasture as one group. Animals were allocated to treatment on the basis of liveweight, body condition and faecal egg counts (FEC) determined 7 days prior to the measurement period. The measurement period ran from 25 May until 28 September 2010 and 12 April until 11 October 2011in the first and second grazing year. Steers were weighed every 14 days at pasture or 28 days during housing. In the first grazing year, faecal samples were collected for FEC and parasite cultures. At the end of the first grazing year, individual blood samples were taken to determine O. ostertagi antibody and plasma pepsinogen levels. During winter, animals were housed as one group and fed silage. In the second grazing year, steers were slaughtered when deemed to reach fat class 3. Data on steer performance showed no differences in daily liveweight gain which averaged 1.04 kg/day. The conformation, fat grade and killing out proportion of beef steers grazing chicory/ryegrass or ryegrass were not found to differ. No differences in FEC, O. ostertagi antibody or plasma pepsinogen levels of beef steers grazing either chicory/ryegrass or ryegrass were observed. Overall, there were no detrimental effects of including chicory in swards grazed by beef cattle on their performance, carcass characteristics or helminth parasitism, when compared with steers grazing ryegrass. - Funding: This work was funded by EBLEX (www.eblex.org.uk), with parasitology support and advice from Merial SAS, France (http://www.merial.com). Seed for the swards was donated by Germinal Holdings Ltd, UK. The funders had no role in data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing Interests: The authors would like to state clearly that whilst two of the authors have an affiliation with the funding provided for this work (EBLEX and Merial), there are no commercial conflicts with this work. Andrew Forbes from Merial was involved in the study due to his substantial experience with cattle nematodes. Elizabeth Genever is affiliated with EBLEX, the organization for beef and lamb levy payers in England, who have an aim to conduct research that will be of relevance to the levy payers. The interpretation of the results was completely independent from any companys opinion. This does not alter the authors adherence all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. Chicory (Cichorium intybus) is a perennial deep-rooting broadleafed forage herb of the Asteraceae which has been regarded worldwide as a valuable constituent of pastures for grazing livestock for many years [12]. Since the development of more modern commercial cultivars from the 1980s onwards [34], the use of chicory has been steadily increasing, albeit predominately in sheep and deer production systems [5]. Agronomically, chicory is highly productive [6], has a high feed value [7] and has been found to improve pasture quality by improving the seasonal availability of high quality forage [8]. Chicory has a variable crude protein (CP) concentration (ranging between 150260 g kg dry matter (DM)21), depending on nitrogen input [6], with some indication that it is more efficient at capturing soil nitrogen compared to perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) when grown under the same conditions [8]. Research has also shown that chicory contains a higher water-soluble carbohydrate concentration [9 10] and a higher mineral and trace element concentration than ryegrass [8], [1113]. Renewed interest in this forage crop has been supported by findings from research confirming the attributes for this forage when fed to grazing livestock. These include its ability to increase the productivity of finishing lambs [1415] and red deer [1617], to reduce rumen nitrogen losses [5], to reduce internal parasites [18] and to improve carcase conformation in finished lambs [19] when compared to ryegrass. However, despite this, there has been relatively little research into the effects of this forage when utilised within beef production systems [2023], with none of these studies investigating the effects of chicory on internal nematode parasites in beef animals. Research studying the performance of bull beef over two short-term periods when grazing chicory [20] concluded that chicory was able to support maximum live-weight gains for 6 8 month old calves. In 1990, research [21] with chicory grazed in a short-term experiment with calves and bulls and concluded that further studies were needed to determine the production response of beef cattle grazed on chicory maintained in vegetative state. Other research into the effects of beef grazing chicory on bite rate [22] concluded that the uniform quality of chicory swards supported a hypothesis that this forage could be useful for livestock having high nutrient and DM intake requirements. Chicory was able to produce live-weight gains in beef cattle that were comparable to those for beef produced from pastures sown with an annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) which is typically grown in the southeast of the United States [23]. In more recent work, steers grazing chicory had higher live-weight gains than those grazing bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon), cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) or pearl millet (Pennisetum glacum) but not those grazing lucerne (Medicago sativa) [2 (...truncated)