Comparison of corn kernels and sprouted wheat grain as components of the winter finishing rations of steers

For 77 days of the 2000 winter season, twenty-eight Overo Colorado steers, 19-months old and 320 kg liveweight (LW), were used to measure animal response to sprouted and slightly sprouted wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) grain. Treatments were T1: maize ( Zea mays L.) kernels; T2: slightly sprouted wheat; T3: 50% slightly sprouted wheat and 50% sprouted wheat; and T4: sprouted wheat grain. The rations were formulated to be approximately isoproteic (12.7%) and isocaloric (2.8 Mcal kg-1 ), with a mixture of oat silage ( Avena sativa L.) harvested at the milky watery stage, white lupin ( Lupinus albus L.) and mineral salts. The silage to concentrate ratio was 60:40 DM basis. The experimental design was a randomized complete block with seven replicates. The individual feed consumption was 10.7, 10.5, 10.3, and 10.3 kg DM animal -1; daily LW gain 0.948, 0.987, 0.961, and 0.961 kg animal -1 and feed conversion 11.3, 10.6, 10.7, and 10.7 kg feed kg-1 LW gain, for the treatments 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively; there were no differences due to the treatments (P ≥ 0.05). It was concluded that slightly sprouted and sprouted can replace maize when used in rations for winter fattening of steers