HIGH LEVELS OF SODIUM CHLORIDE IN BEEF CATTLE DIETS

Trials were conducted to determine the effectiveness of adding elevated levels of NaCl and limestone to the diet of fattening beef steers as a means of improving feedlot performance. In Trial 1, 24 Hereford steers were fed high grain diets containing 0.5% (control), 3%, 5%, or 7% NaCl for 126 days. Growth and feed efficiency were not affected by level of NaCl, although feed intakes, organic matter intakes and carcass weights were reduced at the 7% level as compared with the control. Acetate to propionate ratio increased from 1.9 to 2.8 (P < 0.05) with NaCl supplementation while fecal starch tended to increase from 10.3% to 18.7% (P < 0.12). In Trial 2, 24 steers were fed finishing diets containing 0.5% NaCl (control), 2% limestone, 5% NaCl or 5% NaCl plus 2% limestone for 119 days. Steers consuming 5% NaCl or 5% NaCl plus 2% limestone showed 7.4% and 8.9% increases (P < 0.05) in efficiency of organic matter utilization over those fed the control diet. Addition of limestone to the 5% NaCl diet did not markedly increase performance over that seen with NaCl supplementation alone. Similar to Trail 1, fecal starch concentrations tended to increase (P < 0.10) in diets containing NaCl regardless of limestone supplementation. Use of 5% NaCl in the diet of finishing steers may be useful in increasing feed efficiency. Key words: Beef cattle, sodium chloride, high grain