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T. A. Wickersham, J. E. Sawyer, 120 Protein Supplementation of Beef Cattle to Meet Human Protein Requirements, Journal of Animal Science, Volume 95, Issue suppl_1, December 2016, Page 59, https://doi.org/10.2527/ssasas2017.0120
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Abstract
Protein supplementation to beef cattle is practiced to ensure an adequate level of performance. Cattle fed a basal diet that fails to provide a sufficient supply of either degradable intake protein or metabolizable protein are often supplemented. Development of relatively cheap sources of protein in the form of byproducts from energy and human food production (most commonly distillers' grains from ethanol and corn gluten feed from wet milling) have to a large extent ensured that growing and finishing diets are more likely to contain excess metabolizable protein than insufficient. Meeting metabolizable protein requirements may not ensure adequate ruminal nitrogen for optimal ruminal fermentation; however, endogenous nitrogen recycling or the addition of highly degradable non-protein nitrogen are capable of meeting ruminal requirements at no or relatively little cost, respectively. Diets including byproducts demonstrate the ability of beef cattle production systems to convert low-value protein sources into high-quality sources of human edible protein. Cattle as protein quality enhancers is often discussed but has not been extensively quantified. Accordingly, our aim is to determine the value of beef cattle production systems as convertors of human-inedible protein sources into a high-quality source of human edible protein, beef. Evaluation of diets relative to their ability to use cattle as augmenters of protein quality may have the advantage of demonstrating to consumers and regulatory bodies the value of beef cattle production systems in meeting the growing demand for high-quality human food protein. Furthermore, such an evaluation sheds light on a relatively untapped explanation of how beef cattle contribute to sustainable food production.
