EVALUATION OF CANOLA MEAL VERSUS SOYBEAN MEAL AS A PROTEIN SUPPLEMENT FOR BEEF CATTLE: EFFECTS ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE, CARCASS CHARACTERISTICS, RUMEN FERMENTATION, AND NUTRIENT DIGESTION.

The objective of this research was to determine the effect of canola meal (CM) as a protein supplement for beef cattle on growth performance, rumen fermentation, and nutrient digestion compared to soybean meal (SBM) and wheat dried distillers’ grains with solubles (WDDGS). A 95-d backgrounding trial (Trial 1) and a 61-d backgrounding, 147-d finishing trial (Trial 2) were used to evaluate performance and carcass characteristics of feedlot cattle fed CM vs. SBM with or without WDDGS. In Trial 1, cattle fed SBM had greater ADG (P 0.05) were detected for overall ADG, DMI, or gain : feed. Numerically, cattle fed SBM had the highest feed cost of gain with cattle fed WDDGS the lowest. Cattle fed SBM+WDDGS had the poorest fat deposition (P 0.05) noted in DM, OM, CP, ADF, or NDF digestibility. The results of all three trials indicate that CM is not different than SBM as protein supplement for feedlot cattle and that the inclusion of WDDGS did not improve feedlot performance, rumen fermentation, or nutrient digestibility