Effects of dietary multi-nutritional targeted supplementation according to different growth stages on performance and carcass characteristics of hanwoo steers

This study was conducted to determine the effects of dietary multi-nutritional targeted supplementation according to different growth stages on performance, blood metabolites and carcass characteristics of Korean native Hanwoo steers. Thirty two Hanwoo steers, 6 months of age and weighing 159.2±24.1 kg, were distributed into 2 groups: Control group without any supplements, and multi-nutritional targeted supplementation (MNTS) treatment group supplied with wheat bran and catechins (WBC, 8 to 16 months of age), ruminally protected amino acid-enriched fatty acid (RPAFA, 17 to 28 months of age) and ruminally protected choline with vitamin E (RPCV, 22 to 28 months of age), respectively. Average daily gain was not significantly different between the two groups. During the late fattening period, concentrate, rice straw and dry matter intakes were relatively lower in MNTS than in the control group. Rib eye area, back fat thickness and yield index were similar between the two groups. Meat color was relatively lower in MNTS compared with the control group. The appearance rate of high quality grade (1⁺⁺, 1⁺ and 1) tended to be higher in MNTS compared with the control group. Thus, the present results indicate that dietary multi-nutritional targeted supplementation at different growth stages could be recommendable to increase income according to production of high quality Hanwoo beef without any negative effects on growth performance and carcass characteristics.